Oracle claims the edge in Retek battle

Oracle has claimed a key victory in its battle with SAP to acquire enterprise retail applications firm Retek, after receiving the green light from the US Department of Justice.

"We have received word from the US regulatory authorities that the Oracle acquisition of Retek has received early termination, clearing the way for Oracle to move forward with the transaction," said Oracle spokesman Jeff Lettes.

The regulatory ruling in its favour came shortly after Oracle raised its cash offer to purchase all outstanding shares of Retek to $11.25 per share.

The database giant has already purchased 5.5 million shares of Retek common stock, representing nearly 10 per cent of total outstanding shares.

"Our North American applications business is larger than SAP's, and we intend to defend our number one position," said Oracle chief executive Larry Ellison.

"Customers have told us they want Oracle to buy Retek. Retek's applications are built on Oracle's technology platform."

Ellison went on to criticise SAP. "Retek and Oracle share a vision of applications built using industry standards like Java, not proprietary programming languages like SAP's ABAP," he said.