Oracle may buy out i-flex fully

Oracle, which recently gained control of i-flex by picking up 44 per cent stake in the company, will be shortly making an open offer to buy a further 20 per cent in this banking software product firm in a total deal expected to be around $900 million.

The indication that Oracle is open to gaining full control is a re-affirmation of its intention to be an integrated product offering firm, moving away from its reliance on its flagship database business.

John Wookey, senior vice president, application development, Oracle, said, "There is always a possibility that we might go on to acquire total control of i-flex but nothing is slated for now."

He, however, added that until that decision, Oracle will give greater autonomy for i-flex solutions to work and its core banking system will be integrated with PeopleSoft and Oracle products for better ERP and CRM solutions.

"i-flex is a perfect partner to Oracle with its competence in core banking sector," said John Wookey.

Speaking on whether Oracle will take over i-flex, Wookey said, "Oracle's expertise in financial services and its strong back office systems, along with Flexcube, will make a integrated platform. Oracle will continue to support and enhance its productline - Oracle e-business suite and PeopleSoft Enterprise One.

Unveiling Oracle's global applications strategy, Wookey said that the company plans to develop the next generation application architecture and will try to build and expand its vendor base.

He said India continues to be a lucrative market for Oracle. The combined resources of India development centres in Bangalore and Hyderabad contribute to core software development across all Oracle products family including Oracle database 10g, Oracle application server 10g and Oracle e-business suite.