By Peppi Kiviniemi
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
BRUSSELS -(Dow Jones)- Oracle Corp. (ORCL) had to withdraw its application to get antitrust clearance in Russia for its acquisition of Sun Microsystems Inc. (JAVA) due to timing issues, said a person familiar with the deal Friday.
The acquisition has run into some unexpected trouble in Europe, which made the Russian authorities unwilling to clear the deal ahead of the European Commission, Europe's highest antitrust authority, the person said.
In Russia, once a deal has been notified to the antitrust body, the companies involved have a maximum of 90 working days to get the deal done. The system is rigid, and Oracle was told it either had to withdraw its notification or face a blocking decision from the Russians, the person said.
The Russian authorities basically want to see how Europe is going to deal with the issue first, the person added.
It is likely that Oracle will very soon renotify the deal to the Russian antitrust authority, the person said.
-By Peppi Kiviniemi, Dow Jones Newswires; +3227411483; peppi.kiviniemi@dowjones.com