The European Commission's announcement that it wants to
reach a decision on Oracle’s hostile bid for PeopleSoftbefore Mario Monti's tenure as competition
commissioner ends on 31 October has prompted speculation that it
will approve the merger.
Given the time needed to block mergers, it seems unlikely that
Monti could veto the merger by the end of October, raising
expectations that the EU will approve it.
The Commission appears not to want to wait and see if the US
Department of Justice, which is against the merger on competition
grounds, appeals against a court ruling that its lawyers had not
been able to prove its case. The department has 60 days to lodge an
appeal.
The Commission suspended its investigation into the proposed
takeover in April while it waited for extra billing information
from Oracle. An EU spokeswoman said officials were still trying to
obtain additional information, which the company promised to send
as quickly as possible.
Oracle believes the Commission has all the data it needs to take
a decision.
According to sources close to the case, Monti is keen to avoid
handing over the decision to his successor, Neelie Kroes. In a
previous merger case involving MyTravel's Airtours division and
First Choice Holidays, the preparatory work was done by Monti’s
predecessor, Karel van Miert, with Monti blocking the merger within
weeks of taking office.
His decision was successfully challenged by the companies,
prompting the Commission to launch a major overhaul of how it took
competition decisions. The result of that has been to set at a
higher level the burden of proof required to block mergers.
Simon Taylor writes for IDG News Service