No white knight in sight to rescue BEA from Oracle''s unsolicited interest

BEA Systems Inc, which rejected Oracle Corp''s takeover offer last fortnight (See: BEA rebuffs merger offer by Oracle) does not have as yet have an offer from a white knight. Shares of the business software company dropped almost 6 per cent on the news.

The offer sent BEA''s price to a five-year high of $18.82, above Oracle''s offer of $17 per share.

BEA''s fortunes have sagged with the growth of open-source software and competition from its potential buyer, Oracle, as well as IBM. It has not reported its operating profit margin since July 2006 and has since released limited financial data as it reviews past results for "errors in its accounting of stock options grants".

Billionaire investor Carl Icahn, who owns an 8.5 per cent stake in BEA, has repeatedly called for the sale of the company.

In a letter to Oraclerebuffing the takeover offer, BEA, said the company''s offer of $17 per share (altogether $6.7 billion) was "unacceptable". BEA indicated it would accept an offer of $21 per share, or $1.5 billion more than Oracle''s offer.

But Oracle has repeatedly said it will not sweeten its offer.

Oracle''s offer expires on Sunday, and there doesn''t seem to be a white knight waiting in the wings to buy BEA Systems before then.