Brussels, 27/10/2004 (Agence Europe) - The Commission has authorised plans of Oracle Corporation to acquire PeopleSoft Inc, an operation which will reduce the number of major competitors on the market of application software for business to two. The examination of the merger operation, which was notified in October 2003, has been suspended several times, pending additional documents. On Tuesday, the Commission felt that there was not sufficient evidence to justify an attack on competition, given that large businesses can go to other suppliers that PeopleSoft, Oracle and SAP, the German company which remains the market leader.
Application software allows businesses to automate and manage important functions, such as financial planning and accounting information, or the management of human resources (HR). For software designed for large complex companies, the Commission noted the existence of clear markets, on a global scale, which will continue to provide competition. Various publishers such as Lawson, IFS, Intentia and QAD have secured a market share in the face of the large operators, observes the Commission. Furthermore, when studying previous takeover bids, the Commission noted that the presence of PeopleSoft and SAP during the submissions procedure did not affect Oracle's behaviour, and only spurred it to propose more aggressive behaviour towards other competitors.