Oracle has raised its bid for Indian banking software vendor i-flex solutions to around $1.3 billion, in what the US firm says is its final offer.
Oracle has offered Rs2100 per i-flex share in an effort to increase its majority stake in the vendor by 35% to 90%.
The open offer price is a 42% premium to the original price of Rs1475 per share, which represents the highest price paid by Oracle for shares of i-flex.
In a statement Oracle CEO Larry Ellison says this is the last opportunity for i-flex shareholders to tender their shares to Oracle.
"There will not be another open offer and Oracle will not undertake a delisting for at least the next five years unless i-flex shares are selling at a significantly lower price than they are today," says Ellison.
The open offer will close on Saturday 23 December 2006.
I-flex was originally an internal Citigroup IT unit set up in 1985. The company was spun off in 2002.
Oracle already owns 55% of i-flex. The firm purchased a 41% share in the Mumbai-based vendor held by Citigroup Venture Capital International in 2005 and in September this year offered to pay i-flex shareholders up to $531 million to increase its stake to 75%.