Oracle signs definitive deal to acquire Retek

March 22, 2005     (Page two of two)

Henning Kagermann, SAP chief executive, also addressed the vital role retail plays in SAP's business.

"The retail industry remains strategically important to SAP," Kagermann said, in a statement. "As a disciplined investor, SAP established a premium price for this niche business. However, we concluded that neither our shareholders nor retail customers would benefit from an auction process that would further inflate the purchase price."

Although Oracle is a longtime Retek partner and the two had held takeover talks last year, Retek's board had backed both SAP's original offer and its revised bid before Monday's announcement that it had reached a deal with Oracle.

Retek CEO Marty Leestma said Oracle's offer represents "a good deal for Retek stockholders" and that all of the directors who attended a board meeting had approved the pact. Retek did not identify which director or directors did not attend the meeting. "We will work with Oracle over the next several weeks to ensure that the integration is not disruptive for our clients and employees," Leestma said in a statement.

Oracle noted that nearly four in five Retek customers run that company's applications on top of Oracle's database.

Retek has about 525 workers and had sales last year of $174.2 million. The Retek purchase comes not long after Oracle completed a bruising battle to acquire PeopleSoft. That $10 billion deal closed in January.

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Source: C-Net News