By Dana Cimilluca and Shira Ovide
Oracle Corp. agreed to buy Micros Systems Inc. for about $5.3
billion.
The deal is the biggest for Oracle, a serial acquirer, since its
$7.4 billion acquisition of Sun Microsystems Inc. in 2010.
Micros sells software used by retailers and hospitality
providers. The takeover, which would value the Columbia, Md.,
company at more than $67 a share, is expected to be announced
Monday morning, if it doesn't fall apart at the last minute or get
delayed, the person said.
That would be a slight premium to the $65.77 that Micros shares
closed at Friday after surging earlier in the week when Bloomberg
reported the two sides were in exclusive talks to combine.
Micros sells Internet-connected cash registers, and the software
and technical services to power them, to restaurants, retail shops,
casinos and other companies.
Analysts have said a purchase of Micros, which long has been a
rumored acquisition target for Oracle, would be a sign the database
giant is interested in grabbing a bigger foothold in the retail and
hospitality industries. FBR Capital Markets said in a recent
research note that Oracle, which has $39 billion in cash and
marketable securities and a $190 billion market capitalization,
needs to "go on the deal warpath" to expand into emerging areas of
corporate technology where the company doesn't currently generate
much revenue.
The tie-up would come amid a resurgence in
mergers-and-acquisitions activity this year as a robust stock
market and other factors embolden companies to pursue deals they
shied away from in the years following the financial crisis. Many
of the big, headline-grabbing mergers lately have taken place
outside of the technology sector, however, with health-care,
telecommunications and media companies particularly active. At $5
billion, an Oracle purchase of Micros would be one of the largest
tech takeovers so far this year.
Tess Styne contributed to this article.
Write to Dana Cimilluca at dana.cimilluca@wsj.com and Shira
Ovide at shira.ovide@wsj.com
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