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No. The UK did not block HPE’s anticipated acquisition of Juniper Networks: the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) cleared it at Phase 1 in August 2024 and closed its case that September.
What did the CMA decide?
The CMA opened an inquiry on 19 June 2024 to determine whether HPE’s anticipated acquisition of Juniper would create a relevant merger situation and might substantially lessen competition in a UK market. It cleared the transaction at Phase 1 on 7 August 2024. The CMA published its decision on 17 September 2024, and the case page records the case as closed.
The CMA’s case page records no referral to a Phase 2 investigation and no UK remedy. Its invitation to comment closed on 3 July 2024. The clearance notice said: “The CMA has cleared the anticipated acquisition by Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company of Juniper Networks, Inc.”
How did the UK, EU and US reviews differ?
| Jurisdiction | Regulatory path and outcome | Remedy recorded |
|---|---|---|
| UK | The CMA opened an inquiry on 19 June 2024 and granted Phase 1 clearance on 7 August 2024; it published the decision on 17 September 2024. Source: CMA case page and clearance notice. | None recorded on the CMA case page; no Phase 2 referral is recorded. |
| 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. Source: European Commission decision announcement. | Unconditional approval; no remedy. |
| United States | The Department of Justice (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. Source: DOJ case filing and settlement announcement. | 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. |
What competition question was the CMA examining?
The UK test was whether the acquisition could be expected to substantially lessen competition in any UK market. That is a market-specific question, not a general judgment about whether either company makes useful products or whether the companies compete in every part of networking.
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The CMA’s Phase 1 clearance means it did not refer the transaction to a deeper Phase 2 inquiry in the UK. It does not mean that every regulator had to reach the same result: the UK, EU and US authorities conducted their own reviews under their own processes.
Why did the US challenge a deal the UK cleared?
The UK outcome was an initial-phase clearance with no remedy recorded by the CMA. In the US, the DOJ instead brought a civil horizontal-merger case and later settled on terms that required a business divestiture and technology-licensing commitments. Those are different regulatory paths and outcomes, not contradictory decisions about a single worldwide review.
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The European Commission’s stated basis for unconditional approval was that the companies’ positions would remain moderate and sizable competitors would continue to constrain them. The DOJ’s later settlement shows that its case was resolved with conditions; it does not change the earlier UK decision or reopen the closed CMA case.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Does the UK decision mean Juniper products will change?
Juniper’s portfolio includes routing, switching, wireless, network-security products and associated services, as described by the European Commission. The UK clearance itself does not announce product, support, pricing or roadmap changes, so it is not evidence that Juniper switches, routers or Mist offerings will change in a particular way.
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The US settlement is the concrete product-related regulatory action in the records described above: it requires divestiture of HPE’s global Instant On campus and branch business and limited competitor access to Juniper’s advanced Mist AIOps technology. It does not establish what any particular Juniper customer will experience. Customers evaluating purchases or support should rely on current product and contract terms rather than infer changes from the UK merger decision.
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