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i-flex is a perfect partner, says Oracle
By agencies
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Friday, 02 September 2005, 19:30 IST
BANGALORE: There is "always a possibility" of Oracle Corp acquiring the remaining stake in i-flex solutions, a senior Oracle executive said today.
"Theres always a possibility," said John Wookey, Senior Vice-President, Applications Development, Oracle Corporation, in response to a question on whether the enterprise software company would go in for 100 percent acquisition of i-flex.
A month ago, Oracle announced that it was acquiring up to 61 percent stake in i-flex solutions in a $ 909 million deal, enabling it to broaden its product portfolio in the financial services space.
Wookey, who is responsible for the strategic direction and development of JD Edwards, PeopleSoft and Oracle business applications, indicated that i-flex would be retained as an independent unit of Oracle. "Keeping its independence is critical" in aggressively attacking the market, he advocated.
He said acquisition of i-flex was "critical" to Oracles ambition to become global number one in the banking software domain. Company executives pointed out that i-flex has a customer base of 575 banks spread across 11 countries and the firm has an employee base of close to 5,500 people globally.
"Banking is a critical industry for us," Wookey said. "i-flex is a perfect partner." Oracle is now looking to offer its global customers integrated solutions across the front, middle and back-office. i-flex would give Oracle a clear leadership in banking and drive the latters strategy in this space, he added.
Maintaining that India is going to be "critical" on the global scene in the coming decades, Wookey said acquisition of i-flex is a "great addition to that."
Oracle currently has 6,000 technology and over 400 applications customers in India. Oracle India today employs more than 6,700 people.
Officials said as the company continues to expand development, education, consulting, support, shared services and direct sales activities, it expects to further grow its headcount - outpacing the growth plans of any other global software company in India.