The EU’s go-ahead was the last major regulatory hurdle for the deal, which Oracle now expects to close in the first quarter of 2006. It already won US anti-trust approval from the Justice Department last month.
Bob Wynne, a spokesman for Redwood Shores, California-based Oracle spokesman said the company was pleased with the EU’s decision and is now on track to complete this merger and begin serving our combined customer base.
The EU had taken its time to deliberate over concerns that the merged entity have a conglomerate effect on the highly competitive enterprise software sector. Some industry observers had argued that the merger would force Siebel’s existing CRM customers onto Oracle’s database platform.
The EU however pointed to the use of open standards as making this unlikely and concluded: the transaction would not significantly impede effective competition.
Oracle agreed to buy CRM software maker Siebel in September this year as part of a bigger game plan to challenge arch-rival SAP AG in the customer data management space. Deep cuts are expected at Siebel’s 5,000 workforce as Oracle attempts to boost profitability by 20% annually.
In the past year alone, Oracle has either engaged in five takeovers at a cost of more than $17.6bn.
