OREANDA-NEWS. Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company's (HPE) acquisition of SGI does not affect HPE's ratings, including the 'A-/F2' Long - and Short-Term Issuer Default Ratings (IDR), according to Fitch Ratings.

Fitch most recently affirmed HPE's ratings on May 26, 2016 following the company's announcement it will spin-off the Enterprise Services (ES) segment. A full list of current ratings follows at the end of this release.

The acquisition of SGI, which provides products and services for high-performance computing and data analytics in scientific, technical, business and government markets, complements and strengthen HPE's offerings in mission critical and high performance computing segments of the server market. HPE already is an original equipment manufacturing (OEM) customer of SGI and will enable larger supercomputer installations with comprehensive services offerings.

The acquisition should augment HPE's top line, as Fitch expects high performance computing and data analytics markets to grow in the mid-single and low teens over the intermediate-term, respectively. SGI's revenue for fiscal 2016 ended June 24, 2016 grew 2.2% to $532.9 million, while operating EBITDA was a Fitch estimated $21.9 million. Fitch expects HPE will leverage its distribution platform to drive SGI's 4.1% operating EBITDA margin closer to HPE's mid-teens core EBITDA margin over the intermediate-term.

HPE entered into a definitive agreement to acquire SGI for a total cash consideration of $275 million, net of acquired cash and debt. For the quarter ended June 24, 2016, SGI had $92.9 million of cash and cash equivalents and $64.5 million of total debt. The transaction is subject to customary regulatory approvals and HPE expects the deal will close in the first quarter of fiscal 2017.

Fitch believes the acquisition fits in with HPE's technology-focused tuck-in acquisition strategy, although acquisitions have been minimal more recently as the company focused on its split from HP Inc. Fitch believes the vast majority of HPE's $9 billion of cash and cash equivalents as of April 30, 2016 was located offshore. Still, Fitch believes the company can fund the deal with domestic free cash flow or proceeds from the ES spin-off, also targeted for the beginning of fiscal 2017.

Fitch currently rates HPE as follows:

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co.

--Long-Term IDR 'A-';

--Short-Term IDR 'F2';

--Commercial Paper 'F2;

--Senior unsecured RCF 'A-';

--Senior unsecured debt 'A-'.

Hewlett-Packard International Bank PLC

--Short-Term IDR 'F2';

--Commercial Paper 'F2'.

Electronic Data Systems LLC

--Long-Term IDR 'A-';

--Senior unsecured debt 'A-'.

The current Rating Outlook is Stable.