BEA to acquire portal solutions company

BEA Systems Inc. will acquire enterprise portal solution provider Plumtree Software Inc. for about $200 million in cash, the company said.

Under the agreement, BEA of San Jose, Calif., will pay $5.50 per share, in cash, plus the assumption of outstanding Plumtree options, for a total value of about $200 million. The transaction is expected to close in the fall of calendar year 2005.

Plumtree of San Francisco provides portals solutions that connect work groups, IT systems and business processes. Its portfolio features a cross-platform portal, running on both Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition and .Net. Its government customers include the Defense Finance and Accounting Service, the Naval Air Systems Command and the Energy Department.

When the deal is finalized, Plumtree will become a part of a new BEA product unit. BEA Chief Technology Officer and Executive Vice President Mark Carges, and Plumtree Software Chief Executive Officer John Kunze, will lead the transition.

Plumtree was founded in 1996 and has about 400 employees.