The Hindu : Peoplesoft gets the go-ahead to buy J.D. Edwards

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jul 16, 2003

Business

Business

Peoplesoft gets the go-ahead to buy J.D. Edwards

SAN FRANCISCO JULY 15. The Justice Department on Monday cleared a bid by PeopleSoft to acquire J. D. Edwards, saying it would not prolong its inquiry of the merger's antitrust impact.

The merger could be completed as early as Thursday, PeopleSoft said, the day its $1.75 billion offer for J.D. Edwards is scheduled to expire.

Within a few hours of PeopleSoft's announcement that it would not face further regulatory scrutiny,

Oracle said it planned to proceed with its $6.3 billion hostile takeover of PeopleSoft. It also announced that it had extended its tender offer for PeopleSoft stock by four weeks, to August 15.

The offer was previously set to expire at midnight on Friday. Oracle's bid for PeopleSoft still faces a Justice Department review that is expected to last several months.

``We've closed our investigation involving PeopleSoft and J. D. Edwards,'' said Gina Talamona, a Justice Department spokeswoman. ``But our review of the proposed transaction between PeopleSoft and Oracle is ongoing.''

The decision on Monday surprised some analysts who thought that the merger was significant enough to the business software market to warrant further review.

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