Adobe has abandoned its proposed $20 billion acquisition of product design software company Figma, as there was “no clear path to receive necessary regulatory approvals” from UK and EU watchdogs.

Adobe refused to offer remedies to satisfy the UK Competition and Markets Authority’s concerns last week, according to a document published by the regulator on Monday, arguing that a divestment would be “wholly disproportionate.”

The companies had been battling multiple regulatory challenges, with the EU’s executive body, the European Commission, publishing a statement of objections to the deal last month arguing the takeover could “significantly reduce competition in the global markets.”

Competition regulators around the world have sent mixed signals over the aspirations of Big Tech groups hoping to acquire promising start-ups and potential rivals, at a time when public markets have been largely closed to new listings.

The deal, which was first negotiated during the COVID-19 pandemic’s boom in tech investment and announced in September 2022, would have valued Figma at roughly 50 times its annual recurring revenue, and double its last private funding round in 2021.

Earlier on Monday, the CMA had published the companies’ responses to its provisional findings, which Adobe and Figma said contained “serious errors of law and fact” and took “an irrational approach to the gathering and appraisal of evidence.”

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