Oracle to buy Micros for $5.3 billion
Oracle Corp. has agreed to buy Micros Systems Inc. for $5.3 billion as chief executive Larry Ellison seeks to reignite slowing growth by adding software for hotels and restaurants.
Micros stockholders will get $68 a share in cash, 18 percent more than the closing price on June 16, a day before Bloomberg reported the companies were near a deal.
Oracle, a California-based software maker, came close to acquiring Micros six years ago, only for the deal to fall through at the last minute.
Oracle, which has acquired about 100 companies in the past decade, has seen the incremental revenue gains accrued through those deals dry up. After its late entry to the cloud-computing market, Oracle’s sales have declined or gained less than 5 percent in each of the past 11 quarters as customers gravitate to rivals selling Internet-based software. Last week, Oracle posted profit and sales that missed analysts’ estimates.
‘‘Micros gives them a strong foothold in the hotel and hospitality industry,’’ said Richard Williams, an analyst at Summit Research Partners. ‘‘That will be an important asset for them and will tie well into their other systems, such as their engineer systems and cloud-related offerings.’’
The deal will add to Oracle’s earnings immediately, chief financial officer Safra Catz said.
The acquisition would be Oracle’s largest since the $5.7 billion takeover of Sun Microsystems Inc. in 2010, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
Daniel Ives, an analyst at FBR Capital Markets, expects more acquisitions after the Micros purchase.
‘‘It’s clear they need to do deals on the horizon in order to accelerate growth,’’ said Ives. ‘‘They were late to the cloud.’’
Based in Maryland, Micros sells point-of-sale systems for hotels, restaurants, and retailers.
Micros’s revenue totaled $1.29 billion in its fiscal 2013 and it has been growing in the low double-digit range for the past three years. The company is projected to generate $1.37 billion in fiscal 2014, which ends late this month, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Source: bostonglobe
