BEA Systems Inc. has told Oracle Corp. the two companies can still make a deal -- just not the one on the table.
Oracle released a statement Tuesday, saying BEA's board of directors had officially turned down its offer to buy the company. It set a deadline of Sunday at 5 p.m. Pacific time for BEA to accept the US$17 per share bid.
But several hours later, BEA fired back its own missive in the form of a letter from William Klein, who is vice president of planning and development, to Oracle President Charles Phillips. In the letter, Klein characterized Oracle's offer as too low but made it clear BEA is not against being acquired for the right price.
'BEA is worth significantly more than $17 to Oracle, to others, and most importantly to BEA shareholders,' the letter said. 'BEA's Board has not indicated that it would be opposed to a transaction that appropriately reflects BEA's value, reached through a reasonable process.'
An Oracle spokesperson did not immediately return a request for comment.
The total value of Oracle's existing bid is about $6.7 billion, and the enterprise software giant said Tuesday it 'has no interest in a long, drawn-out process to acquire BEA.'
So far, the BEA-Oracle talks have sparked dueling public statements, missed meetings and shareholder angst, but haven't been nearly as heated as other merger battles, such as Oracle's acquisition of PeopleSoft.
Still, it remains unclear whether Oracle will increase its offer for BEA, which it termed 'generous' in Tuesday's statement.
'Oracle typically has some [pricing] ratios it uses in its acquisition strategy,' Forrester Research Inc.