The New Nation - Internet Edition

IT DESK REPORT

The merger between IT giants Oracle and BEA has moved one step closer to becoming a formal reality with the announcement of BEA stockholders green-lighting the deal.

Having been met with unanimous board approval, the Oracle takeover bid for BEA has been slowly winding its way through the various regulatory and shareholder approval phases. The US$8.5 Billion deal is now one step closer to reality having been given the all clear by a special meeting of BEA stockholders.

Attendance at the meeting accounted for roughly 68.6 per cent of BEA common stockholders, of which 99.9 per cent voted in favor of the Oracle bid.

The deal is now in need of regulatory clearance from the European Commission (EC) and a number of other closing conditions, though one of the bigger hurdles has now been cleared. Unless the EC decides to extend the review period, BEA and Oracle expect to receive clearance by the end of the month.