Cisco CFO highlights rival’s integration as M&A lesson: Trial Balance

The Trial Balance is CFO.com’s weekly preview of stories, stats and events to help you prepare.

Part 1 — Cisco CFO uses rival’s M&A deal to frame integration risk

Cisco CFO Mark Patterson used a Dec. 11 investor conference to frame rival Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s Juniper Networks acquisition as a source of customer uncertainty, and a competitive advantage for Cisco, highlighting how a heated M&A market is stirring corporate rivalries and demonstrating the growing trend of finance leaders being pushed into more public roles.

Speaking at the Barclays Global Technology, Media, Telecommunications Conference at The Palace Hotel in San Francisco, Patterson said overlapping portfolios, particularly in…