European Commission approves HPE’s acquisition of Juniper Networks

The European Commission has approved Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s (HPE) acquisition of Juniper Networks without any conditions. The Commission determined that the merger would not pose significant competition issues within the European Economic Area (EEA). HPE, a provider of IT infrastructure and cloud solutions, and Juniper, which specialises in networking and security solutions, did not significantly overlap in their markets.

The Commission’s investigation covered several areas, including wireless network equipment, Ethernet switches, and data centre switches. It concluded that the merged entity would still face substantial competition from other major players and would need more market power to disrupt competitive dynamics. The Commission also found no risk of anti-competitive bundling practices due to the differing nature of the products offered by the two companies.

With no substantial competition concerns raised, the Commission cleared the transaction unconditionally. The Commission was notified of the merger on 27 June 2024, and the review was completed within the standard 25 working days. More details on the case can be accessed on the Commission’s competition website under case number M.11457.