DOJ Smiles On CA Buyout of Sterling

The U.S. Department of Justice has ended its investigation into Computer Associates' proposed acquisition of Sterling Software Inc. The original tender offer, a final exchange ratio of 0.5634 shares of CA's common stock for each share of Sterling Software's common stock, will move forward, CA says. The tender is scheduled to close at midnight tonight.

CA's $4 billion bid for Sterling was disclosed last month. CA said that the deal, the largest acquisition to date in the software industry, would mark a turning point in the company's history. CA plans to integrate Sterling Software's network-management, storage-management, business-intelligence, and application-development software with CA's line of hundreds of software products. Most analysts agree there is little overlap in product functionality between the two companies.

While the company has been quiet regarding the specifics of how it will integrate Sterling Software's product lines, Sanjay Kumar, CA's president and chief operating officer, has said he hopes to have an integrated product ready by late summer.