08/23/2005

BEA Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: BEAS), and Plumtree Software, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLUM), yesterday announced that the companies have entered into a definitive agreement under which BEA will acquire Plumtree for approximately USD$200 million in cash.

The following release was issued:

Plumtree Software provides enterprise portal solutions to connect disparate work groups, IT systems and business processes. Its portfolio features the industry’s only cross-platform portal, running on both J2EE and .Net. By combining the Plumtree and BEA portal portfolios, BEA will be able to better provide customers with improved enterprise productivity by offering both collaborative and transactional portals across multiple platforms and application servers.

“The Portal is becoming the major point of integration in the enterprise,” said Alfred Chuang, chairman and chief executive officer, BEA Systems, Inc. “Customers will benefit from the powerful combination of BEA as the leader in portal, application and service infrastructure, and Plumtree, as the leader in portal and collaboration software. The acquisition of the Plumtree portfolio will make BEA the leading provider of the most open, extensible and standards-based J2EE, .Net and Service-Oriented platform in the industry.”

Under terms of the agreement, BEA will pay USD$5.50 per share, in cash, plus the assumption of outstanding Plumtree options, for a total transaction value of approximately USD$200 million. The acquisition is subject to regulatory approval, Plumtree shareholder approval and other customary closing conditions. The transaction is expected to close in the fall of calendar year 2005.

Upon close of the transaction, 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. Headquartered in San Francisco, Plumtree was founded in 1996 and has approximately 400 employees. Plumtree has more than 21 million worldwide users and more than 700 customers, including Airbus, Ford, Pratt & Whitney, Starbucks and the U.S. Navy.

“Plumtree’s core competency is cross-platform enterprise connectivity and productivity. We give people a place to collaborate and a face to their enterprise business processes or composite services,” said Kunze. “BEA’s ‘Think liquid.’ vision is powerful and completely aligned with the longstanding culture and aspirations of our team. We’re excited about becoming a part of the BEA team.”