Notes:

10/22/2009 - DealBook reports, Weak Points of Sun Deal Come Out in Europe.

From FT.com Oracle braced for EU objection on Sun deal on 11/3/2009

"The European Commission last blocked a US merger when it intervened in General Electric’s proposed purchase of Honeywell in 2001, causing a transatlantic row...

The Commission rarely blocks deals outright. Between 1994 and 2003, the European commission blocked 21 mergers out of the 2,157 notified – an average rate of 1 per cent a year. Between 2004 and 2008, only two of the 1,665 deals notified have been barred...

Brussels has blocked only two proposed mergers since 2004, both of them involving European companies."

11/9/09 - BusinessWeek article Oracle's Sun Deal: Oracle May Need to Loosen Its Grip: "While the Oracle-Sun merger is likely to be O.K.'d, the European Union will probably ask Oracle to give up some control over MySQL...Ellison has prevailed over trustbusters before, and is tenacious when he wants to close a deal. In 2005, Oracle bought business software maker PeopleSoft after a protracted fight with the Justice Dept. In 2008, it snared BEA Systems after BEA shareholders pushed for a higher price. "Oracle's a pretty tough competitor and they beat the DOJ in PeopleSoft," says ISI Group's Whyman."

On November 9, 2009, the European Commission issued a statement of objections relating to the acquisition of Sun by Oracle Corporation.

11/10 - Here's a link to an AP article on the news.  "Todd [EU spokesman] said EU regulators did not want to return shots with the U.S. over a Department of Justice statement Monday that described the takeover as "unlikely to be anticompetitive" and said it was hopeful that that the EU commission would reach "a speedy resolution." I wonder what they are hinting at by saying "speedy resolution." I'm guessing they want a minor compromise of some sort to save face and curry favor with their constituents, i.e., SAP.

11/10 - WSJ Deal Journal reports Morgan Stanley sees the deal going through. I'm actually a bit nervous about that announcement, since it could be a contrary indicator.

01/21/2010 - Oracle wins unconditional EU approval for Sun buy. See Reuters article.

01/27/2010- Oracle completes acquisition of Sun Microsystems

01/28/2010 - $9.50 cash received per share.