Juniper Networks’ stockholders unanimously approved Hewlett Packard Enterprises’ (HPE) pending $14 billion acquisition, laying another brick in the road toward the deal closing sometime early next year and guaranteeing those Juniper investors a healthy payday.

The approval came as part of Juniper’s latest – and perhaps last – “special meeting,” where more than 265 million share votes were cast in favor of HPE’s acquisition. That was more than 1,000-times the number of share votes against the deal.

The shareholder approval mirrored that of Juniper’s board of directors, which also threw its support behind the proposed deal when it was initially announced in January.

HPE initially proposed the deal to combine the network giants earlier this year. It valued Juniper’s stock at a significant 32% premium over its closing price just before rumors of the deal hit the news. It was also a substantial 40% more than where Juniper’s stock bottomed out last year after it announced a corporate restructuring plan designed to stabilize operations.

That’s a solid return for Juniper shareholders considering that the company was still a bit wobbly operationally coming out of that restructuring.

Juniper did manage to post a 5% increase in net revenues for 2023, which it attributed to growth in its enterprise verticals that offset a drop in its cloud and service provider businesses. However, the vendor reported a 6% year-over-year drop in revenues for the fourth quarter of last year and a 2% sequential decline in revenues. Juniper also reported that full-year net income for 2023 plunged 34% to $310.2 million for the year due to higher personnel and restructuring costs.

Juniper does have the ability to pull out of the deal before its expected closing but doing so would require it to pay a $407.5 million termination fee to HPE. Juniper would also receive an $815 million termination fee should HPE not be able to close the deal.

HPE has stated that it will pay for the deal with financing commitments that will eventually be replaced by a combination of new debt, mandatory convertible preferred securities and cash on its balance sheet. The combination is expected to achieve $450 million in operating efficiencies and run-rate annual cost synergies within 36 months after the deal closes.

HPE shareholders initially were cool on the proposed deal, with the vendor’s stock price sinking from nearly $18 per share prior to the acquisition being announced to less than $15 per share in late February. However, the sentiment has since heated up thanks to a solid earnings release that sent HPE’s stock north of $20 per share at one point in early March.

Analysts have been positive on the deal for HPE, noting it’s a strong investment toward using Juniper’s artificial intelligence (AI) work to bolster HPE’s networking operations.

“Financially, this acquisition is a masterstroke for HPE,” The Futurum Group’s Ron Westfall and Steven Dickens, wrote in a blog post when the deal was announced early this year. The duo added that “it represents a robust investment into HPE’s future,” with financial expectations “contributing significantly to its operating income.”