EU inquiry into Oracle acquisition

The European Commission has opened an in-depth inquiry into the US tech giant Oracle's recent acquisition of software company PeopleSoft, which could last up to four months.

The Commission said its investigation will focus on the impact of the deal on the markets for business applications software used by multinational companies to coordinate and plan financial and human resources.

It said Oracle competes with PeopleSoft and SAP AG, a German software company, in the market

for enterprise application software which is vital for large multinational companies.

The commission began its initial one-month inquiry in October. It said this has raised fears for this type of software application because there would be only two competitors.