Oracle cuts PeopleSoft offer to $7.7B

IDG News Service - Oracle Corp. announced on Friday that it had reduced its offer to acquire PeopleSoft Inc. to $21 per share, or approximately $7.7 billion, in order to bring the offer in line with the reduced value of PeopleSoft's shares.
The offer represents a premium of 21% over PeopleSoft's closing share price of $17.30 on Friday, Oracle Chairman and Chief Financial Officer Jeff Henley said in a statement. The previous offer was $26 per share, or approximately $9.4 billion.
The revised offer "reflects changes in market conditions and in PeopleSoft's market valuation," Henley said in the statement.
The database vendor has also once again extended the deadline on its acquisition offer, this time to July 16. The offer had been set to expire June 25.
At the close of business Friday, 7.9 million PeopleSoft shares had been tendered for the offer and not withdrawn, Oracle said. That's down from about 12.4 million tendered shares in December, and about 43.8 million in July of last year. PeopleSoft had 364 million outstanding shares as of Feb. 26, according to a regulatory filing.
Oracle launched its campaign to acquire PeopleSoft last June, when it submitted an unsolicited $5.1 billion bid for control of the company to PeopleSoft's shareholders.
At the time, PeopleSoft's shares were trading at slightly more than $15. Their value climbed to about $24 at the start of the year but has since declined as regulators in both the U.S. and Europe moved to block the deal.
The U.S. Department of Justice has sued to prevent the merger on the grounds that it would stifle competition in the market for enterprise business applications. That case is set to begin trial June 7.