Oracle Offer for BEA Expires
Oracle's offer to acquire BEA at a price of $17 a share -- or $6.7 billion --
expired on Sunday, and Oracle has
withdrawn
the offer. Oracle has also responded to BEA's putative counteroffer of $21
a share, or about $8.3 billion, by saying that it was "
impossibly
high."
Still, most industry observers believe that a deal will happen sooner or later.
BEA continues to perform below expectations, and investor Carl Icahn, who owns
about 12 percent of the company, has complained about the board's response to
the Oracle offer. And it's telling that no other company has come forward with
a competing offer.
Oracle has made a lot of big acquisitions in the past several years. Do you
think it's ready for another? Give me your Oracle story at [email protected].
Posted by Peter Varhol on 10/30/2007 at 1:23 PM