Will HP Move On Wi-Fi Firm Aruba?

Hewlett-Packard is negotiating the purchase of Aruba Networks, a wireless networks infrastructure maker whose services are used by hotels, universities and shopping malls, Bloomberg says, citing people with knowledge of the matter.

The purchase could be announced next week, but the talks are still in a delicate phase and the acquisition can still fail, said one of the sources.

Aruba’s stock is worth $22.24 (£14.33), giving the company a total value of $2.4 billion (£1.55 billion).

HP is currently in the process of splitting into two companies, a process which will cost the company more than $2 billion (£1.3 billion).

CEO Meg Whitman, focused on cutting cost and returning the business to growth, will remain in charge of the business focused on corporate customers.

Hewlett-Packard is “now in a position where we can actually make acquisitions, which we couldn’t when we started,” Whitman said in an interview on Tuesday after the company released its quarterly earnings.

The spokespeople for both companies declined to comment, when asked by Bloomberg.

Aruba is a networking vendor selling enterprise wireless LAN and edge access networking equipment. Among its customers are China’s Dalian Wanda Group Co., which uses the technology in shopping malls, the California State University at Los Angeles and the Edzan Hotels & Suites in Qatar.

Aruba’s sales are expected to grow to more than $1 billion (£644m) by the end of the 2017 fiscal year, up from $729 million (£469.59m) this year.

Aruba would be a small addition to Hewlett-Packard’s overall business, Bloomberg writes.

The Palo Alto, California-based company reported sales for the first quarter of $26.8 billion (£18.42 billion)

Author: Sead Fadilpašic