Business-software giant Oracle Corp. (ORCL) said it will buy
Phase Forward Inc. (PFWD), bolstering their health-sciences arm, in
a deal valued at about $685 million.
Oracle will pay shareholders of Phase Forward--a health-care
related software company--$17 for each share, a 30% premium to
Thursday's closing price.
Phase Forward management and employees will join Oracle as part
of its health-sciences global business unit. The companies said the
combination will help in the sharing and access to various data.
Digitizing various medical records is seen as a potentially big
growth area in the near future.
Oracle has been in acquisition mode lately, taking on smaller
companies in recent months and pulling in struggling hardware maker
Sun Microsystems Inc. in a $7.4 billion deal that closed in
January.
Forward in February said it swung to a fourth-quarter profit of
$2.7 million as revenue dropped 18%.
Shares of Oracle were down 0.4% to $26.10 in premarket
trading.
-By Nathan Becker, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2855;
nathan.becker@dowjones.com