SAP extends Sybase offer, awaits EU approval

SAP said Friday that it has extended its US$5.8 billion bid for Sybase while it awaits approval under European merger regulations.

The offer is now scheduled to expire on July 16. It had been set to do so on Thursday, July 1.

SAP had officially notified the European Commission of the proposed deal on June 16. An initial review period of 25 working days would expire on July 22, unless the European Union stops it sooner, SAP said.

No other changes have been made to SAP's offer for Sybase, according to a statement.

On June 24 the E.U. said it was soliciting opinions on the deal from interested third parties, which had 10 days to respond.

SAP is buying Sybase for its mobile and database technologies, which will help it extend its ERP (enterprise resource planning) and BI (business intelligence) software across multiple platforms.

SAP's rival, Oracle, faced tough scrutiny from the E.U. over its now-completed acquisition of Sun Microsystems, as various parties expressed concern over the fate of open-source technologies such as the Java programming language and the MySQL database.

No equivalent public outcry has occurred so far in regards to SAP's bid for Sybase.

Chris Kanaracus covers enterprise software and general technology breaking news for The IDG News Service. Chris's e-mail address is Chris_Kanaracus@idg.com