Oracle Completes Siebel Merger

Its official: Oracle confirmed that it completed the acquisition of Siebel Systems late in the day Jan. 31 after shareholders voted overwhelmingly to accept the $5.85 billion deal.

After completing the merger, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison claimed in a statement that his company "is now the undisputed leader in customer relationship management software."

"Oracles focus on modern, standards-based applications and middleware is moving us into a leadership position in applications and on-demand services. Siebel accelerates that move," Ellison said in the statement.

During a special shareholders meeting Jan. 31, nearly 99 percent of Siebel stock holders voted in favor of a merger with Oracle—a vote that surprises only in as much as shareholders favored the deal (the percentage of shareholders that voted against the merger is just about negligible at 0.36 percent).

Resource Library:

Siebel shareholders were given the option during the meeting to elect a cash or common stock transaction.

Thirty-three percent of voters favored a stock transaction of $10.66 per share of Siebel stock. The remaining shareholders voted for a cash transaction.

However, stockholders who elected to receive Oracle common stock will receive a combination of stock and cash because the stock portion of the offer was oversubscribed, according to Oracle officials.

The company will disclose the exact allocation of cash and stock after it receives the official shareholder election results, which is due on Feb. 2.

Former Siebel stockholders not electing to receive Oracle common stock will receive $10.66 per share in cash.

Oracle intends to repurchase shares in the marketplace equal to the amount issued, effectively making it a cash transaction.

Tom Siebel, chairman and founder of Siebel, which develops CRM (customer relationship management) software, thanked shareholders joining the meeting for their support of Siebel throughout the years.

"On behalf of the management and employees, I want to tell you it has been a great personal privilege and a professional experience of a lifetime to serve you all," Siebel said.

Oracle announced its intent to acquire Siebel in September of last year.

While the company has been scarce on details, primarily out of necessity, it has said it will utilize Siebels CRM technology as the basis for its next generation Fusion CRM suite of applications.

Oracle will also maintain Siebels separate on-demand CRM code, though its not clear how either code line will be integrated with Oracles existing—and overlapping—on-premises and on-demand software.

Editors Note: This article was updated to include news about Oracle completing the merger with Siebel.

Check out eWEEK.coms for the latest news, reviews and analysis about productivity and business solutions.