HP Enterprise to merge software with micro focus in $8.8 billion deal

SAN FRANCISCO: Hewlett Packard Enterprise is combining some software assets with Micro Focus International Plc of the UK in a deal valued at about $8.8 billion as Chief Executive Officer Meg Whitman takes further steps to slim down the US company’s operations.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise will contribute its software businesses in areas such as application delivery management, big data analytics and enterprise security to Micro Focus, the Palo Alto, California-based company said in a statement on Wednesday after US markets closed.

In return, HPE will get $2.5 billion in cash and its shareholders will own 50.1 per cent of the merged company, it said.

Micro Focus shares surged as much as 23 per cent. Whitman — who split HPE from sister company HP Inc in November — is looking to make Hewlett Packard Enterprise nimbler to woo corporate customers with more options from cloud-computing providers such as Amazon. com Inc. and Microsoft Corp.