HPE Obtains $4.75 Billion Revolving Credit Facility

‘As a normal course of business, we evaluate our credit facility when it comes up for renewal and make adjustments as appropriate in response to the capital market environment,’ says an HPE spokesperson. ‘This is routine for any company of our size.’

Hewlett Packard Enterprise has obtained a five-year $4.75 billion revolving credit facility with JPMorgan Chase Bank and Citibank N.A. as co-administrative agents.

The $30.9 billion edge computing-hybrid IT powerhouse said the credit facility was unrelated to a recent arbitration award that requires HPE to pay DXC Technology $666 million as a result of an “accounting” dispute.

[Related: Racing Into The Future: Why HPE Aims To Be First And Fast With Data Insight]

“As a normal course of business, we evaluate our credit facility when it comes up for renewal and make adjustments as appropriate in response to the capital market environment,” said an HPE spokesperson. “This is routine for any company of our size.”

HPE shares were trading down 1 percent, or 14 cents per share, in mid-day trading to $12.97.

The credit facility—which HPE entered into on Aug. 16—gives HPE more financial flexibility as it evaluates potential acquisitions.

HPE President and CEO Antonio Neri, in fact, has put HPE into the edge computing-intelligent data platform fast lane with key acquisitions including artificial intelligence/big data platform provider BlueData and supercomputing pioneer Cray.

Before taking the helm of HPE in February 2018, Neri was the driving force behind a number of key HPE acquisitions including Aruba, which has staked out the high ground in the mobile- and cloud-first wireless market, and Nimble, whose InfoSight artificial intelligence predictive analytics platform is being deployed across the HPE software-defined stack.

“Antonio has a hot hand when it comes to acquisitions,” said Michael Goldstein, CEO of LAN Infotech, a Fort Lauderdale, Fla., solution provider. “He’s not afraid to take big risks and make big bets. The only way you get anywhere in this market is by moving forward at light speed. If you can’t build it, you need to buy it to aggressively move into the future.”