Oracle Captures Retek
Updated from 7:35 a.m. EST
Score one for Larry Ellison -- and another for the shareholders of
Retek
(RETK)
.
Oracle has outdueled rival
SAP
(SAP) - Get Report
and reached an agreement Tuesday to purchase Retek for $11.25 a share, or about $670 million.
SAP touched off the bidding war in late February, offering $8.50 a share for the Minneapolis-based company. The two companies then took turns raising the ante, but SAP, which had called its last bid of $11 a share it's "best and final offer," proved to be as good as its word.
"As a responsible investor, SAP made an appropriate offer," SAP chief executive Henning Kagermann said in a statement. "Neither SAP's investors nor the present and future customers in the trade segment would have benefited from a further bidding battle -- and nor would it in the long term have brought the success that we expect."
Kagermann said SAP is confident that it will expand its "strong market position" in the sector.
Oracle, which last year acquired PeopleSoft for $10.3 billion after a brutal 18-month battle, is getting some flack from Wall Street for
not having the discipline to walk away from a deal when it gets too expensive.
But Oracle saw the acquisition as an important defense against SAP, its major rival in the business applications market, and a way to strengthen its position as a supplier of software to the retail industry.
Oracle will report third-quarter earnings after the bell Tuesday, and will certainly be asked about Retek during a conference call following the announcement.
In recent trading, shares of Oracle were off 6 cents to $12.59, while Retek was off 26 cents , or 2.5%, to $11.20 a share. SAP, meanwhile, was gaining 12 cents a share to $39.80.