SAP’s revised offer represents a 29 percent premium over its original offer for Retek and a premium of 22 percent over Oracle’s offer for the company. However, an AMR Research report
SAP AG submitted a new $629 million bid for Retek today in
its escalating bidding war with Oracle for control of
the retail software and services company. The Retek board of directors
unanimously recommended stockholders accept the SAP bid.
In late February, SAP offered $496 million for Retek, an offer that was
quickly countered by Oracle with its $525 million bid last week.
“We believe that SAP’s offer is a good deal for Retek stockholders,” Marty Leestma, president and CEO of Retek, said in a statement.
The Minneapolis-based Retek provides an integrated retail application suite
to more than 200 customers in more than 20 countries around the world. The
company’s software and services include merchandise operations management,
store and multi-channel retailing, supply chain planning and optimization
and demand planning.
The company has marquee contracts with retailers A&P, RadioShack,
GAP, Circle-K, Kroger, Best Buy, Hallmark, Abercrombie & Fitch and the Home
Shopping Network. With a 2004 annual revenue of $174.2 million and
approximately 525 employees, Retek also has offices in Atlanta, London and
Melbourne.
Previously, Retek built most of its software applications on the Oracle
JDeveloper platform. But the company has recently moved onto an open
standards base more suited to NetWeaver, SAP’s own development platform.
“SAP is the undisputed leader in business applications in the U.S. and
globally. The retail industry is a strategic priority for SAP, and we have
many years of experience in developing and delivering retail solutions,” Leo
Apotheker, a member of the SAP executive board, said. “The combination of SAP and Retek will provide customers worldwide with a deep industry knowledge that they could not get from any other software combination.”
Apotheker added in his statement, “With SAP, customers have a choice in
selecting their database — customers are not locked into a single database
vendor. Moreover, with our open integration platform SAP NetWeaver, we can
offer our retail customers a swift and painless path to integration and, with
the business process platform, a clear and defined roadmap to the future of
business software.”
If Oracle ends up acquiring Retek, analysts say retailers will still be able
to use their current technology investments because, unlike SAP, there is no
product overlap between Oracle and Retek.
issued this week points out that SAP’s strength is its global reach and its
existing retail sales and presales teams that would combine with the Retek
field organization.
SAP Boosts Offer For Retek
