Oracle Gets Its BEA...For $8.5B - Software Development Times On The Web

Oracle Gets Its BEA...For $8.5B
Once rebuffed, the world's third-largest software maker increased its offer from $6.7 billion for BEA Systems, which agreed to the deal.
By David Rubinstein

January 16, 2008 — Oracle Corp. today announced it has reached a deal to acquire BEA Systems for US$8.5 billion, just a few months after its initial offer of $6.7 billion was rebuffed.

Oracle will pay $19.375 in cash per outstanding BEA share; the company said that BEA's $1.3 billion cash on hand brings the price of the deal down to $7.2 billion.

In October, Oracle offered $17 per share for BEA, which has experienced persistent revenue shortfalls from software sales. But BEA left that offer on the table, despite the offer being about 25 percent above BEA's one-year stock price average of $13.62 per share. At that time, BEA was looking for $21 per share, which Oracle called "impossibly high."

SD Times reported in its Nov. 15, 2007 issue that Oracle had decided to abandon the takeover proposal, but apparently the company maintained its interest. Oracle was bolstered by financier Carl Icahn, BEA's largest single shareholder, who was prodding BEA to accept a deal.

Oracle has made 35 high-value acquisitions since 2005, with the total expenditure exceeding $31 billion. The company has a market capitalization of about $110 billion.

An hour after the stock market opened, BEA's stock was up more than 19 percent, to $18.58 per share, while Oracle's stock price was off less than 1 percent to $21.23 per share.

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