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SAP to acquire Business Objects

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CIOL Bureau
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BANGALORE, INDIA: SAP has announced that it has reached an agreement to acquire Business Objects for approximately €4.8 billion.

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According to the terms and conditions of the tender offer agreement, SAP will make a cash offer of € 42.00 per ordinary share and for American Depositary Shares (ADS) at the US$ equivalent based on the EUR/US$ exchange rate as of the settlement of the tender offers.

The Business Objects board of directors has approved the tender offer agreement between the two companies and anticipates recommending the offer to its shareholders subject to fulfillment of certain regulatory requirements, SAP said in a release.

Together, SAP and Business Objects intend to offer high-value solutions for process- and business-oriented professionals. The solutions will be designed to enable companies to strengthen decision processes, increase customer value and create sustainable competitive advantage through real-time, multi-dimensional business intelligence.

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“We are highly committed to the next generation of applications serving Business Users,” said Henning Kagermann, CEO of SAP AG. “The combination of SAP and Business Objects in their respective domains will benefit customers, prospects, partners, employees and shareholders.”

“The acquisition of Business Objects is in keeping with SAP’s stated strategy to double our addressable market by 2010 as announced in 2005. SAP will accelerate its growth in the Business User segment, while complementing the company’s successful organic growth strategy, ” added Kagermann.

Bernard Liautaud, chairman and founder of Business Objects, said, “The combination of Business Objects and SAP means that we can truly amplify the reach of Business Intelligence – from the C-suite to Main Street. ”

The closing of the transaction is expected within the first quarter of 2008.

The two companies announced that Business Objects would operate as a stand-alone business as part of the SAP Group. With the completion of the transaction, John Schwarz will continue as the CEO of the Business Objects entity and is expected to become a member of the SAP Executive Board. Subject to the closing, SAP’s Supervisory Board intends to propose to elect Business Object founder Bernard Liautaud to the SAP Supervisory board at the company’s next shareholders meeting.

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