The database software giant, which just completed a US$10 billion acquisition of PeopleSoft in January, made it clear that the move is intended as a shot across SAP's bow.
"Oracle's applications business in North America is larger than SAP's," Oracle chief executive officer Larry Ellison said in a statement Tuesday. "We intend to defend our number one position."
Over the past two days, Oracle purchased 5.5 million shares of Retek, giving it a nearly 10 percent stake in the Minneapolis-based company.
SAP agreed last week to pay US$8.50 per share for Retek, or roughly US$496 million. The companies said they expected to close the deal, pending shareholder and regulatory approval, in early April.
Retek designs software for retail businesses, which brought in revenue of US$174.2 million for the company last year. It employs a staff of 525. SAP had said that adding Retek products to its own collection of business management programs would help it target a retail industry that has a newfound appetite for such technology.
Retek's stock shot up 15 percent in after-hours trading on the news, hitting US$9.95 per share.
