The software giant Oracle said that its proposed $9.3 billion acquisition of the 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 percent 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.
The
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 Mr. 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 percent
before trading was temporarily halted. NetSuite shares fell 3.8 percent
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 Mr. Ellison and other
insiders, had to be tendered to complete the deal.
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