Hewlett Packard Enterprise Near Deal to Buy Juniper Networks
Deal could be unveiled this week, valuing Juniper at roughly $13 billion
Hewlett Packard Enterprise HPE 3.20%increase; green up pointing triangle is in advanced talks to buy Juniper Networks JNPR 1.04%increase; green up pointing triangle for about $13 billion, in a bid to better position the nearly 100-year-old technology company in the era of artificial intelligence.
A deal between the two companies could be announced as soon as this week, according to people familiar with the matter, assuming the talks don’t fall apart.
Texas-based HPE, as Hewlett Packard Enterprise is known, is a cloud-services provider to customers ranging from small businesses to large corporations and governments. HPE is an offshoot of the iconic tech company founded in 1939 by William Hewlett and David Packard, Hewlett-Packard.
HPE shares closed Monday at $17.72, bringing its market capitalization to roughly $23 billion.
Juniper’s stock ended trading at $30.22, taking its market value to about $9.6 billion. A tech-bubble-era darling, its shares have languished for years and currently trade at a fraction of what they once fetched.
Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Juniper sells communications-network services and equipment like routers and switches to technology, telecommunications, financial and other customers.
Juniper also operates a growing artificial intelligence business, known as Mist AI, which it says uses AI and machine learning to optimize users’ experiences around wireless access.
In 2015, HPE was split between an enterprise-services producer and a computer and printer maker known as HP.
A deal between HPE and Juniper would be one of the biggest recent technology takeovers. Tech, normally the biggest engine of merger volume, has been in the doldrums amid a slowdown in dealmaking, hit particularly hard by tougher antitrust scrutiny out of Washington.
But in another big deal in the industry that is in the works, The Wall Street Journal reported last week that design-software company Synopsys is in advanced talks to acquire Ansys for around $35 billion in stock and cash.