HPE closes $21.3b Juniper Networks acquisition

Hewlett-Packard Enterprise has completed its US$14 billion ($21.3 billion) acquisition of Juniper Networks, doubling the size of its networking business.

The US$40 ($60.84) per share acquisition was being opposed by the US Department of Justice due to concerns over the potential impact of the transaction on competition in the wireless networking segment. But last week, HPE and Juniper announced they had reached an agreement with the department that resolves these concerns.

With the acquisition, HPE now has the ability to provide solutions across the entire networking stack, including silicon, hardware, operating system, security, software and services.

HPE’s networking business will also reach adjacent markets including data centres, firewalls and routers, and customers will be provided access to HPE’s full range across networking, hybrid cloud and AI.

HPE President and CEO Antonio Neri said the combined company plans to take a cloud-native and AI-driven approach to serving the networking market.

“Today begins a new era for HPE: we are now at the epicentre of the transformation of IT, where AI and networking are converging,” he said. “In addition to positioning HPE to offer our customers a modern network architecture alternative and an even more differentiated and complete portfolio across hybrid cloud, AI and networking, this combination accelerates our profitable growth strategy as we deepen our customer relevance and expand our total addressable market into attractive adjacent areas. We look forward to welcoming the Juniper team to HPE.”

The transaction is expected to be earnings per share accretive in the first year post close of the acquisition, with the combined networking business contributing more than 50% of HPE’s total operating income. With the merger now complete, Juniper has been withdrawn from listing on the New York Stock Exchange.

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