South Africa’s Competition Commission (CompCom) has approved the $14 billion (R252 billion) deal whereby Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) is looking to acquire Juniper Networks.
In January, HPE and Juniper Networks, a provider of AI-native networks, announced they had entered a definitive agreement, under which HPE will acquire Juniper in an all-cash transaction for $40 per share, representing an equity value of approximately $14 billion.
According to HPE, the combination of HPE and Juniper advances its portfolio mix shift toward higher-growth solutions and strengthens its high-margin networking business, accelerating HPE’s growth strategy.
The acquisition is expected to double HPE’s networking business, creating a new networking behemoth.
The deal has faced scrutiny in the UK, after the country’s competition regulator stated it is investigating HPE’s acquisition of Juniper Networks for potential anti-trust concerns.
The transaction is expected to close in late calendar year 2024, or early calendar year 2025, subject to receipt of regulatory approvals, approval of the transaction by Juniper shareholders and satisfaction of other customary closing conditions.
In a statement today, the CompCom says HPE is a company incorporated in accordance with the laws of the State of Delaware in the US and is listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Its shares are widely held and it is, therefore, not controlled by any other firm or person.
In SA, it adds, the acquiring firm controls HP South Africa and also controls HP Financial Services, incorporated in Ireland and registered in SA as an external company.
The regulator notes HPE is active in the provision of network infrastructure in respect of, among others, edge networking, wide area networking (WAN) and cloud/data centre networking.
It adds that HPE provides, among others, campus switches, wireless local area network (WLAN), wireless access points, secure access service edge, software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN) and enterprise data centre switches.
The commission notes that US-based Juniper Networks’ shares are widely held, and it is therefore not controlled by any person or firm.
It states the target firm is also active in the provision of network infrastructure, including edge networking, WAN and cloud or data centre networking. It also provides, among others, WLAN, campus switches, routers, SD-WAN and data centre switches.
“The commission is of the view that the proposed transaction is unlikely to substantially lessen or prevent competition in any market. The proposed transaction does not raise significant public interest concerns,” says the competition watchdog.
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