CRE Main Moving Target for $14B HP-EDS Merger

[IMGCAP(1)]PALO ALTO, CA-HP and Electronic Data Systems Corp. had commercial real estate consolidations in motion long before they inked their $13.9-billion merger, part of an ongoing battle to cut costs and increase profit margins. HP is hunkering down to decide the fate of a significantly larger portfolio, just weeks before it sells a two-million-sf portion of its 105-acre campus in northwest Houston.

HP’s C-suite team is expected to discuss, but not dwell on the pending real estate decisions in the Sept. 15 conference call about the integration of Plano, TX-based EDS, which has been pruning its bricks and mortar since 2005. Hewlett-Packard Development Co. LP’s pre-merger portfolio is roughly 61.9 million sf, spanning more than 170 manufacturing locations and including its largest office, warehouse, data center and distribution sites, according to its website.

Exactly much HP leases and owns worldwide is anybody’s guess, with its PR team unwilling to discuss the portfolio size and the information noticeably absent from SEC filings. But, it does have an active acquisitions and dispositions team standing guard over the plans in the hopper.