Oracle buyout of NetSuite on track as 53% shareholders back deal
07 Nov 2016
Software giant Oracle said its proposed $9.3-billion acquisition of cloud storage company NetSuite would move forward, after more than half of eligible NetSuite shareholders backed the bid.
Oracle said in a statement on Saturday that holders of 53 per cent of unaffiliated NetSuite shares agreed to tender their shares by the deadline of Friday. The deal will be completed on Monday, Oracle said.
Oracle offered to buy NetSuite in July for $109 a share in response to challenges from rival enterprise software companies like Workday and Salesforce that have popular cloud-based software products.
Investment manager T Rowe Price, NetSuite's second-largest shareholder after Oracle's chief executive Lawrence J Ellison, had objected that Oracle's offer was too low and said it would not tender its shares. T Rowe sent a letter last week to Oracle suggesting that the company raise its offer to $133 a share.
As of July, T Rowe owned 12.2 million NetSuite shares.
NetSuite's chief executive, Zachary Nelson, has worked at Oracle and is close to. Ellison.
NetSuite shares went on a roller-coaster ride ahead of Oracle's offer deadline on Friday. A day earlier, NetSuite shares jumped by more than 6 per cent before trading was temporarily halted. NetSuite shares fell 3.8 per cent on Friday, closing at $90.34.
According to terms of the Oracle agreement, a majority of NetSuite's 40.8 million unaffiliated shares, or shares not tied to Ellison and other insiders, had to be tendered to complete the deal.
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