BEA accepts sweetened Oracle offer
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Oracle Corp , the world's third-largest software maker, won a three-month-long campaign to buy BEA Systems Inc  by raising its bid for the company by 14 percent to $8.5 billion.
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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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SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 26  Â The business software maker BEA Systems signaled its intent to let Oracleâs $6.7 billion takeover bid expire Sunday, setting the stage for a showdown with its largest shareholder, the billionaire investor Carl C. Icahn.
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We've already established what you are, now we're just working out a price BEA blinked this morning and said it would enter takeover negotiations with Oracle, and anyone else thatâs interested, at a floor of $21 per share.â¦
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With no other suitors stepping forward, business software maker Oracle Corp. is threatening to abandon its $6.7 billion bid for BEA Systems Inc. unless its smaller rival accepts the offer by Sunday evening.
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Oracle has finally won its prize, the rival BEA Systems, after sweetening the offer by 14 percent, just three months after BEA rejected its original bid.
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Software maker BEA Systems Inc's  board said on Monday it is holding out for a $21-a-share takeover offer, a day after its larger rival Oracle Corp  withdrew its $17-a-share offer.
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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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Oracle said Wednesday that it will finally acquire BEA Systems, an enterprise software maker, for about $8.5 billion in cash. The deal agreement marks an end to a strange, months-long kabuki dance in which Oracle abandoned its first bid and both sides seemed to adopt a hard-line bargaining stance. BEA's board unanimously approved Oracle's offer [...].
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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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SAN FRANCISCO - Oracle Corp. , the third-largest software maker, gave BEA Systems Inc.'s directors five days to consider a $6.7 billion takeover offer before it expires. BEA said it can't accept Oracle's price.
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Business Objects SA's share price surged in Paris Thursday morning, as rumors swirled of a takeover bid from IBM Corp. or Oracle Corp.ADVERTISEMENTMAKE SOA REAL WITH IBM WEBSPHERE PODCASTStreamline processes and maximize efficiency within a proven service oriented architecture. Take back control of your business processes with IBM WebSphere.
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Oracle&#160;on Tuesday morning said that BEA Systems has officially rejected its&#160;offer to acquire the company. BEA had previously said the&#160;offer was too low.&quot;Last night we were told by Bill Klein, Vice President -- Business Planning and Development (speaking on behalf of the board), that BEA&#39;s board again rejected our proposed price of $17 per share in cash,&quot; Oracle said in a statement, adding that the BEA board &quot;has refused to meet with us since we made our October 9th proposal.&quot;Oracle set a deadline for Sunday at 5 p.m. local time on its $17 per share bid.&quot;Oracle has no interest in a long, drawn-out process to acquire BEA,&quot; Oracle said.The total value of the bid is about $6.7 billion.(More to follow.)
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SAN FRANCISCOâBEA Systems Inc. took advantage of the proximity of Oracle Corp.&#39;s OpenWorld conference here this week to introduce BEA WebLogic Server 9.0, which is designed to allow developers to rapidly
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BEA Systems Inc  said on Friday it still cannot accept the $17-per-share takeover bid from Oracle Corp  as it significantly undervalues the business software maker.
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'I want to be wooed' BEA invited Oracle to play kiss-chase yesterday, as the database vendor came over all tough and macho in its effort to acquire the middleware firm.â¦
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Oracle Corp. ORCL.O on Monday said  rival business software maker PeopleSoft Inc.'s PSFT.O board  has accepted a sweetened purchase offer of about $10.3 billion,  ending a long and bitter hostile takeover battle.