Who's getting BEA ? by Corina Ciubotaru

Software giant Oracle has retracted its offer to buy Middleware producer BEA after BEA declined an offer of $6.7 billion. It appears they want to get $21 per share while Oracle is believed to be able to pay up to $27 per share and still make a profit out of the deal. But now, shareholder Carl Icahn caught word of the actions and decided he would convince the other shareholders to accept the Oracle deal, by using his 13.2 percent stake in BEA. So far, managers of the middleware manufacturer have not been influenced by these threats, fueling speculations that they just postpone the deal until they get an exaggerated price, $1.5 billion more than Oracle's offer. Its other possible buyers are IBM and Hewlett-Packard, but Oracle boss Larry Ellison is not a man to give up easily. He has been negotiating this deal for three years now and he seems determined to do whatever it takes to get the slumping company, but BEA still doesn't seem to agree with the imposed offer of $17 per share. Officials in the company said they are looking into other ways to maximize shareholder value, and a purchase will only happen if they get their asked price. BEA's stock price fell again earlier this month to $18.94 after a five-year high and has stabilized at $16.5 on Monday. The question now is whether other companies interested in BEA such as IBM and SAP will have the guts and the money necessary to buy the company from under Oracle's nose.

related story: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071029/ap_on_hi_te/bea_systems_icahn;_ylt=AqehhdtSfmu8lRCpAAQvJbus0NUE

by Corina Ciubotaru for PocketNews (http://pocketnews.tv)

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