SAP extends offer period for Sybase buy

FRANKFURT, GERMANY: Germany's SAP extended its offer period by ten days for outstanding shares in database specialist Sybase, which it agreed to acquire in May, because several conditions had not yet been met.

SAP said in a statement on Monday that the European Commission still had until July 22 to review the merger for approval.

SAP, the world's biggest maker of business software, had said last month that it will likely extend the tender offer and that further extensions may be necessary.

Based in the small town of Walldorf in southern Germany, SAP agreed to pay $65 per share in cash for Sybase, the world's No. 4 provider of database software, on May 12.

SAP said previously it expected the transaction to close during the third quarter, immediately adding to the company's earnings.

The $5.8 billion acquisition of Sybase would be the second largest acquisition in SAP history after its purchase of Business Objects in 2008.