It’s become pretty clear that health IT is one of the major growth sectors in the technology sector. That’s why firms across the board, from Google to IBM, Kaiser to Microsoft, are making big bets in the space. And Oracle’s not about to be left behind. The company has announced plans to purchase Phase Forward, a publicly traded healthcare software firm for $685 million in an all-cash deal. The acquisition ratchets up Oracle’s heated rivalry with SAP, as well as other tech titans that have been padding out their software verticals. Datamation has the story on Oracle’s acquisition of Phase Forward.
Oracle has said it will shell out $685 million to acquire Phase Forward, an on-demand provider of drug data management and health science software.
The all-cash transaction, which values Phase Forward (NASDAQ: PFWD) at about 30 percent above its closing price Thursday, is just the latest salvo in Oracle’s (NASDAQ: ORCL) decade-long blood war with archenemy SAP.
Oracle will buy the Waltham, Mass.-based company for $17 a share and fold Phase Forward’s employees and management team into its Health Sciences global business unit, it said.
