The Department of Justice decided to terminate the waiting period required under antitrust legislation for the 1.75-billion dollar deal, PeopleSoft said in a statement.

"The Department of Justice's decision to grant early termination is great news," said PeopleSoft president and chief executive Craig Conway.

"This is a very important milestone and clears the way for the JD Edwards acquisition to be completed."

It was not immediately clear how the decision would affect software giant Oracle Corp.'s 6.3-billion dollar hostile takeover bid for PeopleSoft, which runs to midnight July 18.

The Oracle bid for PeopleSoft had already taken hit when the Justice Department announced June 30 it was extending an antitrust review of the proposed takeover.

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