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BEA Systems Inc, which rejected
Oracle Corp''s takeover offer last fortnight (See: BEA
rebuffs merger offer by Oracle) does not have as yet have an offer from
a white knight. Shares of the business software company dropped almost 6 per cent
on the news. The
offer sent BEA''s price to a five-year high of $18.82, above Oracle''s offer of
$17 per share. BEA''s
fortunes have sagged with the growth of open-source software and competition from
its potential buyer, Oracle, as well as IBM. It has not reported its operating
profit margin since July 2006 and has since released limited financial data as
it reviews past results for "errors in its accounting of stock options grants". Billionaire
investor Carl Icahn, who owns an 8.5 per cent stake in BEA, has repeatedly called
for the sale of the company. In
a letter to Oraclerebuffing the takeover offer, BEA, said the company''s offer
of $17 per share (altogether $6.7 billion) was "unacceptable". BEA indicated
it would accept an offer of $21 per share, or $1.5 billion more than Oracle''s
offer. But Oracle
has repeatedly said it will not sweeten its offer. Oracle''s
offer expires on Sunday, and there doesn''t seem to be a white knight waiting in
the wings to buy BEA Systems before then.
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