Oracle Corp. to Buy Siebel in $5.85B Deal
biz.yahoo.com
Monday September 12, 8:05 am ET
Oracle Corp. to Acquire Siebel Systems for $5.85 Billion in Cash, Stock
REDWOOD SHORES, Calif. (AP) -- The business software company Oracle Corp. on Monday said it will acquire Siebel Systems Inc., which makes software to help companies manage relationships with their customers, in a deal worth about $5.85 billion in cash and stock.
Oracle is offering $10.66 per Siebel share, an 16.8 percent premium above Siebel's closing price of $9.13 on Friday.
Shares of Siebel rose $1.22, or 13.4 percent, to $10.35 in premarket trading following the news, while Oracle shares fell 28 cents, or 2.1 percent to $13.
"In a single step, Oracle becomes the number one CRM applications company in the world," said Oracle Chief Executive Larry Ellison in a statement. "Siebel's 4,000 applications customers and 3.4 million CRM users strengthen our number one position in applications in North America and move us closer to the number one position in applications globally."
Oracle said the companies' joint customers have recommended the transaction to both of them for more than a year.
The deal is expected to boost Oracle's earnings, excluding items, in fiscal 2007, and contribute to Oracle's goal of 20 percent annual earnings growth on a long-term basis.
Oracle said Siebel's board approved the deal, and Chairman Thomas M. Siebel agreed to vote his shares in favor of the acquisition. The purchase is expected to close in early 2006, subject to regulatory and Siebel shareholder approval.
In addition, Oracle said it plans to repurchase shares equal to the number of shares issued for the transaction. |
