BEA Systems, Icahn Meeting Looks Likely

SAN FRANCISCO -- A sitdown between BEA Systems(BEAS) and activist investor Carl Icahn looks to be in the cards.

A source close to the matter said late Friday that executives look forward to the possibility of speaking with Icahn or his representatives -- and that a meeting is likely within the next two to three weeks.

Icahn's hedge fund has recently raised its stake in BEA to 9.9%.

In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission late Thursday, BEA disclosed that Icahn now owns 38.7 million shares and options. That's an increase of 5.3 million shares during the past week.

The stock has risen nearly 7% to $13.59 over the past seven days, as feeder fish hedge funds and investors follow Icahn's moves.

Icahn's firm said in a filing Sept. 14 that it intended to ask management for a meeting to discuss the company's future, including the possibility of a merger with a "strategic acquirer."

BEA has long been considered a takeover candidate for other big tech firms, such as Hewlett-Packard(HPQ), Oracle(ORCL), or IBM(IBM).

BEA Chief Executive Alfred Chuang holds the view that BEA, the developer of business middleware application software, would be better able to innovate as a standalone company than as part of a giant firm.

Icahn may merely be looking for BEA to disburse some of its cash to shareholders. The company has approximately $1 billion on the books. BEA's authorized share repurchase plan will spend $622 million of that, but the company can't buy back shares until it completes its financial restatements stemming from its former options backdating practices.