BEA finally says yes to Oracle - for $8.5bn
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Larry flashes extra cash Oracle has signed a definitive agreement to buy BEA for $8.5bn.â¦
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BEA Systems Inc  said on Thursday it is prepared to sell itself for $8.2 billion, which is a 24 percent premium to a bid from Oracle Corp  that the business software maker rejected.
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It has agreed that the company should be sold to Oracle for $26.50 a share, roughly $10.3 billion, $1.5 billion more than Oracle&#39;s now-famous &quot;best and final&quot; offer.
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BEA Systems reiterated on Friday that it would not accept&#160;Oracle&#39;s $17 per share acquisition bid, and also said it would allow&#160;a deadline Oracle had set for Sunday 5 p.m. PDT&#160;to expire.In a public statement -- just the latest salvo in merger talks that have had a distinctly icy quality -- BEA&#39;s vice president of planning and development, William Klein told Oracle President Charles Phillips that the company&#39;s offer was &quot;unacceptable.&quot;&#160;BEA has said it would accept a $21 per share bid.That would result in an $8.3 billion price tag for the company, significantly more than Oracle&#39;s offer, which works out to $6.7 billion. BEA&#39;s stock was trading at about $16.80 per share midday Friday.&quot;As fiduciaries, our Board cannot endorse a proposal that it has concluded significantly undervalues BEA,&quot; Klein said in the statement. &quot;We therefore assume that your proposal will expire on October 28.&quot;An Oracle spokeswoman could not immediately be reached for comment.
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BEA Systems made good Sunday on its promise to let a 5 p.m. Pacific Time&#160;deadline expire on Oracle&#39;s $17-per-share offer to buy the company.
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After 18 months of bickering, litigation, executive shuffling, antitrust rulings, and revised offers from Oracle, the PeopleSoft Board finally decided to accept Oracle&#39;s most recent offer of $26.50 per share.
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BEA Systems made good Sunday on its promise to let a 5 p.m. Pacific Time&#160;deadline expire on Oracle&#39;s $17-per-share offer to buy the company.The enterprise software maker&#39;s board of directors had already said publicly that Oracle&#39;s bid, which amounts to $6.7 billion, was too low.&#160;BEA instead named a price of $21 per share, which works out to roughly $8.3 billion.Oracle issued a brief statement Sunday that was terse in tone, but nonetheless did not rule out a future bid: &quot;The BEA shareholders should not assume that Oracle will renew its $17 per share offer in the future. Over time many things can change: BEA&#39;s business might materially weaken, the stock market can fall further from its recent record highs, or Oracle may have committed its capital elsewhere.&quot;A BEA spokesman could not immediately be reached for comment.Oracle has coveted BEA&#39;s customer base and share of the middleware market, but company officials called BEA&#39;s demand &quot;impossibly high.&quot;While Oracle&#39;s next move remains to be seen, other companies may look to acquire BEA.Burc Oral, president of the New England BEA User Group, brought up some oft-mentioned names -- HP, S- but said perhaps an unlikely suitor will emerge for the firm. &quot;I have always thought that stackwise, HP is a good candidate. I was also thinking about a sleeping giant, like Computer Associates. They have no overlap.&quot;Of course, there is still the possibility that Oracle will end up buying BEA after all, and perhaps soon.BEA&#39;s largest shareholder, billionaire Carl Icahn, has demanded the board allow shareholders to consider Oracle&#39;s bid.Icahn, who holds more than 58 million shares of BEA stock, said in a statement that he has filed suit in Delaware to force an annual shareholder meeting &quot;before any scorched earth transactions (such as stock issuances, asset sales, acquisitions or similar occurrences) take place at BEA, other than transactions that are approved by shareholders.&quot;The investor also accused BEA&#39;s board of intending &quot;to find ways to derail a sale&quot; and maintain control of the company.Icahn said BEA can avoid litigation if it conducts an auction sale, allowing shareholders to consider offers from the highest bidder.An Oracle purchase would prompt an uncertain future for BEA customers, according to Oral.&quot;I think the support and maintenance will be honored for at least three years [if Oracle buys BEA],&quot; he said. &quot;The issue is, what is the product development that is going to happen?&quot;Change wouldn&#39;t occur immediately under Oracle, but would subsequently do so in dramatic fashion, he predicted. &quot;For a year, BEA is going to sail as it is. Then there is going to be a major consolidation in the product space.&quot;Prakash Malani, a BEA user from the Los Angeles, California area, said sale talks come at a time when BEA&#39;s fortunes are middling.&quot;I believe they have excellent products that compete very well in the market place. However, their products are being commoditized, innovation is slowing down, and their big bet on SOA [service-oriented architecture] has yet to be paid off,&quot; Malani wrote in an e-mail message. &quot;They have missed [the] mark on some technologies like RIA (Rich Internet Application) and their top talent is being poached by companies like Google.&quot;
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Oracle has rejected&#160;BEA Systems&#39; proposed purchase price of $21 per share, calling it &quot;impossibly high&quot; for Oracle or any other company to pay.In a letter to BEA&#39;s board dated Oct. 25, Oracle again urged the company to accept its offer of $17 per share, an amount that Oracle said it was &quot;unwilling to increase.&quot;&quot;The $21 per share price is a multiple of nearly eleven times BEA&#39;s last twelve months&#39; reported maintenance revenues,&quot; wrote Oracle President Charles Phillips. &quot;Nobody would seriously consider paying that kind of multiple for a software company with shrinking new license sales.&quot;He noted that Oracle was the only company making an offer for BEA. &quot;Apparently no other companies think that BEA is worth $17 per share, let alone $21 per share,&quot; Philips wrote.Oracle again urged BEA to put its offer to a shareholder vote.&#160;Oracle&#39;s bid of $17 per share&#160;values BEA at about $6.7 billion. A price of $21 per share would value it at $8.3 billion.Oracle said it had an obligation to its own shareholders to &quot;exercise price discipline when evaluating acquisition opportunities.&quot; It reminded BEA of its&#160;deadline of Sunday evening&#160;to accept the offer, after which it will &quot;move on&quot; and consider other acquisitions.Oracle made its surprise bid for BEA on Oct. 12, hoping to strengthen its line of middleware products and grow its customer base. BEA, which had been under pressure from investor Carl Icahn to sell, quickly rejected the offer as too low, and on Thursday came back with its suggested higher price. Oracle&#39;s offer &quot;significantly undervalues BEA&quot; and is not in the best interests of BEA&#39;s shareholders, it said on Thursday.BEA officials weren&#39;t available for comment on Oracle&#39;s latest letter.&#160;
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BEA Systems Inc  said on Thursday it is willing to sell itself for $8.2 billion, but the price was rejected as "impossibly high" by Oracle Corp , the only company that has publicly expressed interest in the software maker.
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Oracle has rejected BEA Systems' proposed purchase price of $21 per share.
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Oracle withdraws its $6.7 billion buyout bid for BEA Systems, after the middleware maker refuses to entertain its $17 a share bid.
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Business software maker BEA Systems has agreed to be acquired by Oracle Corp for $8.5 billion, ending a long negotiation over the value of the company.
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SAN JOSE, Calif., Dec. 8 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- (http://bea.com/more_info.jsp?p%8&amp;r=1.4.6 ) -- BEA Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:BEAS), the world&#39;s leading application infrastructure software company, today announced
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SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 29 -- After shooing away Oracle's $6.7 billion takeover bid, BEA Systems dug in its heels for a potentially disruptive battle with its largest shareholder, activist investor Carl C. Icahn.
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REDWOOD SHORES, Calif. -- Business software maker Oracle Corp. said Wednesday it agreed to buy BEA Systems Inc. for about $7.85 billion, a compromise price that ends a months-long dispute over the value of the software company.
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The business software maker inks a deal with IBM, but it isn't likely to dissuade Oracle.
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BEA Systems has told Oracle the two companies can still make a deal -- just not the one on the table.