Oracle Gets Extension to Convince European Union on Sun Acquisition

European Union regulators have complained about Oracle Corp.’s planned acquisition of Sun Microsystems Inc., suggesting in an initial review that the combination of Oracle database products and Sun’s MySQL database could tilt that market’s competitive landscape and result in higher prices.

Oracle, which received regulatory approval from the U.S. Department of Justice in August to proceed with the $7.4 billion acquisition, has until January 27 to address competitive concerns raised by the European Commission, a unit of the EU comprised of 27 commissioners that handles the Union’s day-to-day affairs.

Last week, the EU extended Oracle’s deadline from the prior January 19th date, responding to the database maker’s request for more time to prepare a rebuttal. Oracle has made it known that it will earnestly contest the EU’s objections.

Commission officials said that its objections were based on anti-trust issues and that its evaluation of the deal was ongoing, Reuters news service reported. Read more…