Thursday, February 28, 2008

DOJ clears Oracle's BEA acquisition

The U.S. Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission gave the green light to Oracle's proposed acquisition of BEA on Wednesday, taking the deal one step closer to becoming final.
BEA stockholders still must approve the acquisition. They're expected to do so during a special meeting April 1. The deal, worth about US$8.5 billion, also still requires clearance from the European Commission.

The companies agreed on the purchase price in mid-January, after BEA turned down Oracle's initial offer late last year. The bid looked like it might get ugly when BEA called Oracle's initial offer inadequate and Oracle stepped up its rhetoric. BEA asked for a higher bid, which Oracle declined, but the two eventually met in the middle.

Although the companies have some overlapping products, BEA will boost Oracle's middleware offerings, Oracle has said. Oracle has also said it plans to continue to support BEA's software.

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