Hewlett Packard Enterprise has completed its $14 billion acquisition of Juniper Networks, enabling HPE to expand its presence in the artificial intelligence and hybrid cloud market and advance its strategic vision with a full networking IP stack.
HPE said Wednesday Rami Rahim, most recently CEO of Juniper Networks, will now oversee the combined HPE Networking business.
With the deal’s completion, shares of Juniper’s common stock will no longer be listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
Offering Cloud-Native, AI-Driven IT Portfolio
“Today begins a new era for HPE – we are now at the epicenter of the transformation of IT, where AI and networking are converging,” said Antonio Neri, president and CEO of HPE.
“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,” added Neri.
The deal doubles the size of HPE’s networking business, enabling the combined entity to expand its position in adjacent markets, including data centers, routers and firewalls.
The combined company will offer customers access to HPE’s portfolio of networking, storage, compute, software, AI and hybrid cloud offerings to help accelerate their AI transformation efforts.
Post-close, the transaction is expected to be accretive to non-GAAP earnings per share in the first year, with the combined networking business contributing more than 50 percent of HPE’s total operating income.
HPE, Juniper Reach Deal With DOJ
The transaction’s completion came days after HPE and Juniper reached a settlement with the Department of Justice to clear the planned acquisition.
Under the settlement, HPE must divest its global Instant On campus and branch WLAN business to a DOJ-approved buyer within 180 days. Upon the deal’s closing, the merged firm should hold an auction to license Juniper’s AI Ops for Mist source code to independent competitors.
In January, the DOJ filed a lawsuit challenging the proposed deal, citing its potential impact on innovation and competition.
In their response to the complaint, HPE and Juniper maintained that the proposed transaction is “pro-competitive” and noted that they would vigorously defend against the department’s “overreaching interpretation of antitrust laws.”
HPE, Juniper Agree on $14B All-Cash Deal
In January 2024, HPE agreed to buy Juniper in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $14 billion, or $40 per share, to expand its networking business in response to the increasing adoption of AI tools and hybrid cloud platforms.
Juniper shareholders approved the transaction in April 2024.
