The UK did not block HPE’s proposed acquisition of Juniper Networks. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) opened an inquiry on 19 June 2024, cleared the deal at Phase 1 on 7 August, published its decision on 17 September and closed the case. The UK case page records no Phase 2 referral or UK remedy.
What did the CMA decide?
The CMA examined whether HPE’s anticipated acquisition of Juniper would create a relevant merger situation and might substantially lessen competition in any UK market. It concluded its Phase 1 review by clearing the acquisition. In its 7 August 2024 notice, the CMA said: “The CMA has cleared the anticipated acquisition by Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company of Juniper Networks, Inc.”
The CMA had invited comments, with the response period closing on 3 July 2024. The case then proceeded to Phase 1 clearance; the CMA’s case record does not show a referral to an in-depth Phase 2 investigation or a UK remedy. The case was closed in September 2024.
How did the UK outcome compare with the EU and U.S.?
Regulators in different jurisdictions can reach different outcomes because they assess competition in their own markets and processes. The UK and EU cleared the deal in 2024; the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) later brought a case and reached a settlement in 2025.
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| Jurisdiction | Process and outcome | Remedy recorded |
|---|---|---|
| UK | The CMA opened an inquiry on 19 June 2024 and cleared the acquisition at Phase 1 on 7 August 2024. It published its decision on 17 September and closed the case. | No UK remedy is recorded on the CMA case page. |
| European Union | The European Commission approved the acquisition unconditionally on 1 August 2024. It said the parties’ market positions would remain moderate and sizable competitors would continue to exert pressure. | Unconditional approval; no remedy was imposed. |
| United States | The DOJ filed a civil horizontal-merger case on 30 January 2025. On 28 June 2025, it announced a settlement allowing the merger to proceed subject to commitments. | HPE must divest its global Instant On campus and branch business and provide competitors limited access to Juniper’s advanced Mist AIOps technology through licensing commitments. |
Why did the DOJ challenge a deal the UK cleared?
The CMA’s Phase 1 decision was an assessment under the UK’s competition test: whether the transaction might substantially lessen competition in a UK market. The DOJ pursued a U.S. civil horizontal-merger case and announced a settlement with remedies. Those decisions reflect separate proceedings and jurisdictions; the later U.S. action did not reopen or reverse the UK case.
The U.S. settlement is notable because it permits the deal to proceed with conditions rather than requiring the transaction to be abandoned. The divestiture concerns HPE’s Instant On campus and branch business, while the licensing commitments concern limited competitor access to Juniper’s Mist AIOps technology.
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What does the deal mean for Juniper switches, routers and Mist?
Juniper’s portfolio includes routing, switching, wireless and network-security products and associated services. The regulatory decisions address competition and the conditions under which the acquisition could proceed; they do not, by themselves, announce product discontinuations, price changes or changes to support for existing customers.
The U.S. settlement specifically includes limited licensing access to advanced Mist AIOps technology for competitors. The materials cited in the regulatory decisions do not establish what product, pricing or support changes customers will experience. Businesses evaluating Juniper equipment should therefore check current product and support terms with their supplier rather than infer a change—or no change—from the UK clearance alone.
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What should investors and customers take away?
For the UK regulatory question, the decisive fact is that the CMA’s review is over: it cleared the anticipated acquisition at Phase 1 and closed its case in 2024. The EU also approved the deal unconditionally. The U.S. proceeding came later and resulted in divestiture and licensing commitments announced in June 2025.
These competition decisions do not, on their own, establish the transaction’s financial effect on HPE or Juniper, or predict future product prices and investment. The UK case record contains no market-share, price-effect or innovation statistic that supports a quantified conclusion on those questions.
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