IDG News Service - Oracle Corp. anticipates completing its planned $5.85 billion acquisition of Siebel Systems Inc. on Jan. 31 or shortly afterward, according to an Oracle spokesman.
Customer relationship management software vendor Siebel announced plans late yesterday to hold a special stockholder meeting on Jan. 31 to vote on Oracle's plans to acquire the company. The stockholder meeting is due to take place in San Mateo, Calif., on Jan. 31 at 11 a.m. local time.
"Given Siebel's announcement [Thursday], we look forward to a favorable Siebel stockholder meeting on Jan. 31st and completion of the merger on the same day or very soon after," Bob Wynne, an Oracle spokesman, said in a statement from the company.
Earlier this month, the European Commission cleared Oracle's proposed takeover of Siebel, determining that the purchase wouldn't impede effective competition to a significant extent in the enterprise applications market. U.S. regulators approved the deal in November.
Oracle first announced plans to acquire Siebel in September, claiming that the addition of the company would enable it to overtake rival SAP AG as the largest CRM software vendor in the world.
Oracle already has three CRM product lines -- its own and those of PeopleSoft and J.D. Edwards. PeopleSoft acquired J.D. Edwards as it unsuccessfully tried to defend itself against a hostile takeover bid from Oracle. After an epic 18-month battle, Oracle ended up victorious, closing its $10.3 billion purchase of PeopleSoft at the start of 2005.
In sharp contrast to the situation with PeopleSoft, Siebel's management team has always voiced its unanimous approval of the proposed acquisition.
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