It seems there may be a bit of a hiccup in Arris Group's (ARRS) plans to acquire the Motorola Home cable set-top box division from Google (GOOGL -1.97%). Late Monday, Arris Group revealed that both it and Google have received so-called "second requests" from the Department of Justice, related to the department's Hart-Scott-Rodino antitrust review of Arris' purchase.
The primary effect of this second request is that it extends the waiting period for approval of Arris' purchase -- and, perhaps, of Comcast's (CMCSA -5.82%) announced purchase of 10.6 million Arris shares as well. DOJ need not decide on whether the acquisition is permissible until 30 days after Arris and Google have responded to its inquiry.
In this regard, Arris notes that both it and Google plan to respond as soon as practicable, to minimize the delay. Arris, however, further notes that despite receiving the second request, it does not believe DOJ will refuse approval for the acquisition and says it continues to expect the deal to close in Q2 2013.
Investors appear to agree. While Arris shares opened slightly lower today, they finished the day up a slight 0.55%.
