Oracle Thursday dismissed as speculation a report that it plans to acquire Kingdee International Software Group, a Chinese ERP software maker.

On Wednesday, Chinese website Sohu.com reported Oracle was in talks to acquire Kingdee for US$150 million. The deal, including a cash component of $80 million as well as stock, will likely be finalized later this year, the report said, without disclosing its sources.

"It’s just speculation," said Chi Cho Hea, a spokeswoman for Oracle Asia-Pacific in Singapore.

Kingdee, which is headquartered in Shenzhen, China, reported a profit of 72.3 million renminbi (US$8.9 million as of Dec. 31, 2005, the last day of the period being reported) on revenue of 529.3 million renminbi during 2005.

The company is one of the top software vendors in China, where it is particularly strong among small and medium-sized businesses, market analyst IDC said. But the company faces tough competition from foreign vendors at the high end of the market.

"Kingdee is facing keen competition from international brands such SAP and Oracle, which have product lines that are more complete. It needs to recruit more technical talents to cope with its product development needs," IDC said in a December 2005 report on the company.

-Sumner Lemon, IDG News Service (Beijing Bureau)

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