BEA Systems («www.businessweek.com») rises after Oracle («www.businessweek.com») confirms that it delivered a letter to Board of Directors of BEA Systems on Oct. 9 in which Oracle proposes to acquire BEAS for $17.00 per share in cash. S&P maintains hold on BEA Systems. S&P believes the proposed acquisition makes strategic sense for Oracle, keeps strong buy.

General Electric («www.businessweek.com») posts third quarter EPS of $0.54, vs. $0.47 a year ago, on 12% revenue rise.

Beazer Homes USA («www.businessweek.com») falls after Fitch Ratings downgrades BZH’s Issuer Default Rating to ‘BB-’ from ‘BB’.

Children’s Place Retail Stores («www.businessweek.com») has put itself up for sale, following a sharp decline in its stock price, the result of a string of bad news, according to Fortune.

Centex («www.businessweek.com») plans to take impairment charge of about $850 million for neighborhood and land inventory, about $40 million impairment and option write-off for share of land holding in joint ventures, and about $40 million for goodwill.

McDonald’s («www.businessweek.com») sees $0.89 third quarter EPS from continuing operations, including after-tax gain of $0.06 per share from the sale of Boston Market. It posts 5.9% higher September global comp sales, 2.5% higher U.S. comp sales.

Avon Products («www.businessweek.com») sets $2 billion stock buyback.

Allegheny Technologies («www.businessweek.com») sees third quarter EPS of $1.85-$1.88. Compared to the third quarter, it expects the fourth quarter to be further impacted by low operating volumes in its Flat-Rolled Products segment, lower LIFO inventory reserve reversals. It sees $7.00-$7.25 2007 EPS. It cites higher inventories at certain mills and depots and volatile raw material costs. S&P keeps hold, cuts estimates.

Deutsche Bank reportedly downgrades Citigroup («www.businessweek.com») to sell from buy.

Chico’s FAS («www.businessweek.com») posts 8.3% lower September same-store sales, 7.3% total sales rise.

Citigroup downgrades Blue Nile («www.businessweek.com») to sell from hold.

Coldwater Creek («www.businessweek.com») cuts second half fiscal year 2008 guidance, now sees $260-$265 million third quarter sales, $0.11-$0.13 loss. It sees fourth quarter sales of $360-$365 million and breakeven results. It sets $75 million share buyback. S&P, CIBC World cut estimates. Lehman downgrades to equal-weight.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services («www.businessweek.com») posts $0.38, vs. $0.39 a year ago, third quarter EPS as higher expenses offset 3.9% revenue rise.

Rogers Corp. («www.businessweek.com») raises $94-$97 million third quarter sales forecast to $109-$110 million, $0.32-$0.35 non-GAAP EPS (excluding any restructuring adjustments) to $0.44-$0.48.

Limelight Networks («www.businessweek.com») sees third quarter GAAP revenue of $28.6-$29.1 million, non-GAAP revenue of $27.5-$28.0 million, vs. earlier expectations of GAAP and non-GAAP revenue of $27.0-$28.0 million and $25.5-$26.5 million, respectively. It expects to report improved third quarter GAAP, non-GAAP net loss compared with previously issued guidance. Also, it plans to restate 2006 and first and second quarter of 2007 results to reflect higher revenue, improved net losses.

Uranium Resources («www.businessweek.com») enters into a definitive agreement with BHP Billiton to acquire 100% of the ownership of Rio Algom Mining LLC. Under the agreement, URRE will pay BHP Billiton $110 million in cash and assume certain retirement benefits and reclamation liabilities of which up to $35 million will be pre-funded at closing.

W-H Energy Services («www.businessweek.com») cuts $1.23-$1.28 third quarter EPS forecast to $1.06-$1.10. It cites primarily lower revenues and profit from its coiled tubing business, slowdown in Gulf of Mexico activity that impacted the company’s rental tool, directional drilling, measurement- and logging-while-drilling businesses.

Acco Brands («www.businessweek.com») says third quarter sales will be $495 million, vs. $499 million last year. It expects 2007 sales volumes to be down low-single-digits as a percentage of prior year’s sales; it cuts $230-$240 million adjusted supplemental annual EBITDA to $215-$225 million.

(10-12) 11:54 PDT San Francisco (AP) —

Pouncing on an opportunity to add another weapon in an increasingly bitter business software battle, Oracle Corp. has offered to buy struggling rival BEA Systems Inc. for $6.7 billion in its latest shot aimed at another industry leader, SAP AG.

Oracle unveiled its $17-per-share cash offer Friday, the day after being told the bid was inadequate, according to a letter that BEA released a few hours after its larger rival revealed its interest.

“It is apparent to our board…that BEA is worth substantially more to Oracle, to others and, importantly, to our shareholders than the price indicated,” William Klein, BEA’s vice president of business planning and development wrote in the rejection letter.

Oracle President Charles Phillips expressed hope Friday that the two sides would be able to negotiate a sale. “We believe our all cash offer provides the best value for BEA’s shareholders and the best home for BEA’s employees and customers,” Phillips said.

In a Friday research note, Goldman Sachs analysts Sarah Friar and Derek Bingham said they believed Oracle can afford to pay more than $20 per share, or about $8 billion, for BEA and still make money off the deal.

Oracle’s takeover attempt comes less than a month after activist investor Carl Icahn announced he had bought a large stake in BEA in hopes of forcing a sale of the troubled software maker.

In an interview with CNBC Friday, Icahn predicted other bidders will emerge for San Jose-based BEA Д an opinion echoed by industry analysts. SAP, IBM Corp. and Hewlett-Packard Co. were listed as the most probable candidates to enter the fray.

“There should be competition for this one,” predicted Forrester Research analyst Ray Wang. “IBM and HP need BEA a whole lot more than Oracle does.”

SAP, IBM and HP all declined to comment on the speculation.

BEA shares soared $4.74, or 35 percent, to $18.36 in Friday afternoon trading Д above the price Oracle is offering Д reflecting investors’ expectations another suitor will emerge.

Icahn, a billionaire with a history of pushing companies to reorganize or sell, may play a pivotal role in determining BEA’s fate. He owns a 13.2 percent stake in the maker of so-called middleware Д computer coding that is commonly used on the Internet to make applications interact more smoothly with information stored in databases.

Redwood Shores-based Oracle has been stalking BEA for years only to be rebuffed in its overtures. Now that Icahn is involved, Oracle “smells blood in the water,” said Bill Swanton, vice president of research for AMR Research.

Founded in 1995, BEA is considered a valuable asset largely because it has about 15,000 customers who generate more than $600 million in annual revenue for software maintenance and upgrades. JP Morgan analyst Adam Holt believes that figure could rise to more than $650 million in the next fiscal year, according to a Friday research note.

BEA hasn’t been seeking a sale, but appears to be backed into a corner now.

Besides facing pressure to sell from the tenacious Icahn, BEA also has been dealing with an accounting mess tied to its mishandling of past stock option grants that has prevented it from meeting regulatory deadlines to file its quarterly and annual financial reports. The delinquency has threatened BEA’s listing on the Nasdaq Stock Market and contributed to a sharp decline in its shares.

In its letter, BEA said that Wall Street will have a better handle on the company’s value after it gets its financial house back in order.

Oracle has shown it won’t take no for an answer in the past. In 2003, Oracle launched a hostile takeover bid for PeopleSoft Inc. and then spent the next 18 months overcoming its rival’s staunch resistance before completing the $11.1 billion acquisition.

That began the biggest shopping spree in industry history as part of a strategy mapped out by Oracle’s flamboyant chief executive, Larry Ellison. Convinced that more business software customers wanted a one-stop shop to buy all their technology, Ellison set out to create one by devouring Oracle’s smaller rivals.

Oracle has already spent about $25 billion on 30 acquisitions during the past three years in an expansion aimed at surpassing Germany-based SAP in the sales of business applications software, which automates a wide range of administrative tasks.

SAP initially derided Oracle’s acquisition strategy as misguided, but earlier this week signaled it is ready to go on the prowl too by agreeing to pay $7 billion for Business Objects SA, a maker of software that helps companies analyze their internal deal. That deal countered Oracle’s $3.3 billion purchase of Hyperion Solutions earlier this year.

Cowen and Co.’s Peter Goldmacher is among the analysts who believe SAP’s won’t let Oracle snatch BEA without a fight. “We believe that if SAP lets (BEA) get away, its weakening position in the software pantheon will accelerate as it is increasingly relegated to niche vendor status,” Goldmacher wrote in a Friday note.

If SAP bids for BEA, it would also represent a bit of revenge. SAP had agreed in 2005 to buy a smaller business software maker, Retek Inc., only to be outbid by Oracle.

In another sign of the deepening acrimony between the two companies, SAP has acknowledged that one of its subsidiaries infiltrated Oracle’s computers to help customers maintain their software. Oracle is suing SAP in federal court, alleging its rival’s behavior broke laws protecting intellectual property.

IBM and HP have different reasons for possibly pursuing BEA.

Armonk, N.Y.-based IBM already is a major player in the middleware market and may view a BEA acquisition to prevent Oracle from threatening its position, analysts said. IBM and Oracle already are fierce rivals in database software Д a market where Oracle has been the longtime leader.

HP is believed to be interested in expanding into middleware market by either buying BEA or Tibco Software Inc. The Palo Alto-based company has already proven it’s willing to tackle acquisitions involving stock option problems, having bought Mercury Interactive Corp. last year for $4.9 billion.

Although SAP has maintained its lead in business applications software, Oracle’s expansion has been paying off handsomely for its shareholders. The company earned a record $4.3 billion in its last fiscal year and its stock price has climbed by more than 60 percent since 2004, creating more than $40 billion in shareholder wealth.

Oracle shares fell 3 cents to $22.42 in Friday afternoon trading.

___

AP Business Writer J.W. Elphinstone in New York contributed to this story.

Divorce negotiations between Sir Paul McCartney and Heather Mills have collapsed, and the next stage in the couple’s acrimonious split will be fought out in open court, it was reported today.

The estranged couple had hoped to reach a settlement in private, avoiding the cost and publicity of a court hearing.

But, according to the Reuters news agency, a five-day hearing has been scheduled in February after they failed to reach agreement during a closed session at the family court.

The Evening Standard reported that the stumbling block at yesterday’s lengthy meeting had been Ms Mills’ refusal to accept a gagging order as part of any deal.

More details to follow.