(10-25) 11:35 PDT SAN FRANCISCO, (AP) —

Business software maker BEA Systems Inc. put itself on the auction block Thursday, demanding at least $21 per share in an effort to prod rival Oracle Corp. into raising its current bid by $1.5 billion.

BEA’s maneuver is the latest step in a mating dance that could end within the next few days or drag on for several months.

The object of Oracle’s desire is BEA’s so-called “middleware” Д computer coding that helps business software applications interact with databases. Redwood Shores-based Oracle has been buying scores of smaller software makers during the past three years to add more applications and build upon its leadership in the database market.

Hoping to add another notch on its acquisition belt, Oracle earlier this month made an unsolicited $17-per-share offer that values BEA at about $6.7 billion.

BEA quickly rejected that bid as inadequate, but its board hadn’t indicated how much it thought the San Jose-based company is worth until Thursday. The $21-per-share asking price values BEA at about $8.2 billion.

Investors didn’t agree with BEA’s self-appraisal, reflecting Wall Street’s belief that the company is unlikely to fetch much more than Oracle has already offered. BEA shares rose by 9 cents to $17.64 during Thursday’s afternoon trading.

Oracle declined to comment Thursday, but has previously said it believes its $6.7 billion bid for BEA is “generous.” Earlier this week, Oracle said it will retract the offer unless BEA accepts it by Sunday evening.

Pacific Crest Securities analyst Brendan Barnicle doubts Oracle will change its mind before Sunday’s 8 p.m. EDT deadline, but that doesn’t mean the drama will end. He expects Oracle to revive its bid again after BEA realizes it is unlikely to fetch $21 per share Д a level its stock hasn’t reached in nearly six years.

Prolonging the takeover saga could actually help Oracle by fostering uncertainty among BEA’s 15,000 customers and 3,800 employees Д a development that conceivably would hurt BEA’s sales and push the company’s stock price below the current level.

“From Oracle’s perspective, it doesn’t cost them anything to keep making bids and then retracting them,” Barnicle said. “But that could become quite a distraction for BEA.”

A cloud already hangs over BEA because of its mishandling of employee stock options. The mess has prevented BEA from meeting regulatory deadlines to file quarterly and annual financial statements, threatening the company’s listing on the Nasdaq Stock Market.

Oracle’s plans could change if another bidder emerges for BEA. When Oracle first pounced, several analysts said SAP AG, IBM Corp. or Hewlett-Packard Co. might be interested enough in BEA’s products to submit a competing offer.

But Germany-based SAP has taken itself out of the running because it already has most of the same products as BEA, said company spokesman Saswato Das. Spokesmen for IBM and HP declined to comment Thursday.

Some analysts think IBM is unlikely to bid for BEA because it would have to clear more antitrust hurdles than Oracle.

By opening its negotiating door, BEA’s board may at least have appeased one of its largest shareholders, billionaire investor Carl Icahn. Wielding his 13.2 percent stake in the company, Icahn earlier this month urged BEA to seek more than Oracle offered.

Icahn didn’t return phone calls Thursday.

(10-25) 11:37 PDT Los Angeles (AP) —

Shares of struggling mortgage lender Countrywide Financial Corp. plunged more than 10 percent Thursday amid investor uncertainty over the company’s upcoming third-quarter financial results.

Shares slipped 1.43 cents, or more than 10 percent, to $12.40 during midday trading. The stock closed Wednesday at $13.83, falling to its lowest price in more than four years after hitting a peak of $45.26 in the last 52 weeks.

The Calabasas, Calif.-based company, the nation’s largest mortgage lender, was scheduled to report its third-quarter financial results Friday morning.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial expect the company to report a loss of $1.26 per share on revenues of $231.8 million.

Earlier this month, the company said its mortgage loan fundings fell 44 percent in September from the year-ago month. Mortgage defaults and foreclosures were also up compared with September 2006.

The company also provided a glimpse of its upcoming quarterly results, saying mortgage production volume was down 19 percent in the third quarter over the same period last year and down 27 percent from the second quarter.

Countrywide has been struggling with loan financing amid rising defaults and foreclosures, particularly among subprime borrowers with poor credit histories.

Its chief executive, Angelo Mozilo, has also been under fire for selling hundreds of millions of dollars in stock, with some shareholders calling for his removal.

The company took steps earlier this week to address some of the concerns raised by consumer groups, lawmakers and others who have been calling for lenders to do more to help borrowers from losing their homes because they can’t keep up with payments.

Countrywide announced it would begin offering some $16 billion in refinancing or loan modifications to borrowers with mortgages whose interest rate is set to adjust by the end of next year.

Meanwhile, the company disclosed Wednesday that Henry Cisneros, who served as housing secretary in the Clinton administration, resigned from the company’s board of directors.

In a letter dated Oct. 18, Cisneros wrote that he decided to leave his post on the board to focus on leading his own company through the troubled housing market.

Cisneros is executive chairman of CityView, which partners with builders to construct homes in urban areas.

In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Countrywide noted that Cisneros’ departure was not due to any sort of disagreement with the company.

Cisneros had been on Countrywide’s board since 2001.

On Thursday, an investment group affiliated with labor unions representing nearly six million workers participating in public pension plans, called on Countrywide to let shareholders play a role in the nomination of Cisneros’ replacement.

In a letter, CtW Investment Group executive director William Patterson said the selection of a new director “should be aimed at establishing accountability to shareholders and must not be a closed process further entrenching” Mozilo.

The group has previously called on Countrywide’s board to remove Mozilo from his post.

A Countrywide spokeswoman did not immediately comment Thursday.

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BRUSSELS, Belgium: EU regulators said Thursday they had charged makers of an industrial bleach with illegal price-fixing.

They said they had sent a formal charge sheet accusing a number of companies that made sodium chlorate of running a cartel. The chemical is mainly used as a bleaching agent in the pulp and paper sector.

Finlands Kemira Oyj said it had received and would examine charges for its subsidiary, Finnish Chemicals Oy which it bought in 2005. It said the unit was accused of antitrust abuse from 1994 to 2000.

Dutch-based Akzo Nobel NV confirmed that it had also been sent the EUs “statement of objections.”

Akzo was fined \84.4 million ($110 million) in 2005 for taking part in a cartel for MCAA, a chemical used to produce detergents, food and cosmetics. Last year, it had to pay up another \25 million for a cartel involving hydrogen peroxide, a chemical bleach and detergent.

The company confirmed in January that it was cooperating in another EU investigation into a suspected cartel for calcium carbide, used in the chemical and steel industries.

The European Commission never names the companies it suspects in cartel cases until it takes a final decision on their guilt, levying fines of up to 10 percent of global annual turnover that can run to hundreds of millions of euros.

Businesses have two months to respond in writing and can seek an oral hearing to defend themselves.