Hewlett Packard Enterprise today announced that it will spin off large portions of its software business segment and merge them with U.K.-based enterprise software company Micro Focus International plc in an approximately $8.8 billion transaction that will leave HPE with a 50.1 percent ownership stake in the new combined company. The merger is subject to customary closing conditions, including anti-trust clearances and shareholder approval and is expected to close in Q3 2017.
“The combination of Micro Focus with HPE Software will give customers more choice as they seek to maximize the value of existing IT assets, leveraging their business logic and data along with next-generation technologies to innovate in new ways with the lowest possible risk,” says Kevin Loosemore, executive chairman, Micro Focus.
“We believe that the software assets that will be a part of this combination will bring better value to both our customers and shareholders as part of a more focused software company committed to growing these businesses on a stand-alone basis,” says Meg Whitman, president and chief executive officer, HPE.
HPE and Micro Focus have also announced their intent to enter into a commercial partnership naming SUSE as HPE’s preferred Linux partner as well as exploring additional collaboration leveraging SUSE’s OpenStack expertise for joint innovation around HPE’s Helion OpenStack and Stackato Platform-as-a-Service solutions. SUSE and HPE are working together to define the specifics of the commercial partnership.
“SUSE and HPE have a long history of successful strategic partnership,” says Nils Brauckmann, CEO, SUSE. “We are excited now to explore new ways of expanding upon that with a commercial partnership focused on areas such as cloud computing, software-defined networking and application platforms. The combination of SUSE’s open source expertise and OpenStack capabilities with HPE’s Helion and Stackato offerings can create best-in-class enterprise solutions for our mutual customers.”
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