Justice Dept. Questions Oracle on Siebel

The U.S. Department of Justice has asked Oracle Corp. for more details on its planned acquisition of Siebel Systems Inc. In an announcement Monday, Oracle said it received a request for additional information from the Justice Department pursuant to the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act. Justice officials are now evaluating potential antitrust issues with the buyout.

Bob Wynne, an Oracle spokesman, said the request from the Justice Department extends an initial 30-day waiting period under the HSR Act that expired on Monday. He would not comment on what details were being requested.

“They’ve asked for some more information,” Wynne said. “They had a certain amount of time to do that. We go through the information, providing it to them, then they have 15 days to decide” if they want more details.

“We want to push the process forward” and complete the planned merger following the government review, Wynne said, adding, “We’ll answer all their questions.”

Oracle early last month announced its plans to buy business applications software vendor Siebel in a deal valued at approximately US$5.85 billion.

The deal marks Oracle’s latest step in its efforts to remake itself as a global business applications powerhouse, a move that includes the closure of its $10.3 billion acquisition of PeopleSoft Inc. at the start of the year.

Oracle and Siebel expect the deal to close early next year, subject to regulatory approvals. Oracle was forced to battle the Department of Justice over its PeopleSoft merger following complaints that that deal would be anticompetitive. By Todd R. Weiss, Computerworld