--SAP, Ariba get second request from Justice Department for
information on their deal
--Companies now see deal closing in fourth quarter
--SAP calls request 'quite normal'
(Adds quote from SAP spokesman, in the fourth paragraph.)
By Ben Fox Rubin
SAP AG (SAP, SAP.XE) and Ariba Inc. (ARBA) said they are
responding to a second request for information from the U.S.
Justice Department regarding SAP's pending acquisition of Ariba, a
move seen as delaying the deal's close by a quarter.
In May, SAP, a German business-management-software maker, agreed
to buy Internet-commerce company Ariba for $4.3 billion, as SAP
sought new growth to keep pace with rival Oracle Corp. (ORCL).
The second request is part of a regulatory-approval process
under antitrust laws. The companies said they intend to continue
working with the Justice Department and now expect the deal to
close in the fourth quarter of this year. When the deal was
disclosed in May, the companies projected it would close in the
third quarter.
A SAP spokesman in Germany said the procedure is "quite normal."
SAP's American depositary shares added 41 cents to $60.44, and
Ariba's shares slid 24 cents to $44.53.
Ariba offers a global network to track and manage corporate
purchases, and its network would be combined with SAP's
resource-planning and back-office software suite.
The acquisition came as more enterprises turn to the cloud for
software that is either installed behind corporate firewalls or
streamed into their businesses from remote servers. Cloud-computing
proponents have said software based on the Internet is less costly
and easier to update and maintain than programs that customers
install at their own data centers.
SAP has found it difficult to deliver cloud software as a
service. It launched its Business ByDesign cloud service in 2007
with the goal of signing up 10,000 customers and had attracted
about 1,000 customers by the end of last year. In February, the
company acquired U.S. based SuccessFactors Inc. for $3.4 billion in
an effort to boost its presence in the cloud. SAP indicated
recently that it needed to grow its cloud business even faster.
In April, SAP said its first-quarter profit rose despite weak
sales in North America and some European markets.
--Philipp Grontzki contributed to this article.
Write to Ben Fox Rubin at ben.rubin@dowjones.com.