Oracle, however, said it would not be swayed in its 6.3-billion-dollar bid to take over PeopleSoft.

"The powerful combination of PeopleSoft and JD Edwards creates the second largest enterprise applications software company in the world," said PeopleSoft president and chief executive Craig Conway.

PeopleSoft had bought about 110 million shares, or 88 percent, of JD Edwards as part of a friendly takeover offer that expired the previous day, the group said in a statement.

"PeopleSoft expects to acquire the remaining shares of JD Edwards before the end of August 2003," the company said.

The bid was earlier valued at 1.75 billion dollars.

PeopleSoft's takeover of JD Edwards went ahead after the Department of Justice agreed to cut short a waiting period required under antitrust legislation.

Oracle Corp. said it was sticking to its hostile bid for PeopleSoft, undeterred by the PeopleSoft-JD Edwards merger. On Monday, Oracle had extended its offer by nearly a month to August 15.

"We believe time is on our side. Oracle remains committed to acquiring PeopleSoft, even with the addition of JD Edwards," said Oracle spokesman Jim Finn.

PeopleSoft has fought a fierce rearguard action against Oracle, telling shareholders in a letter this month that the bid "poses extraordinary risks and is destructive to stockholder value."

Oracle has sued PeopleSoft, charging its board is in breach of its duties to shareholders. For their part, PeopleSoft and JD Edwards both have sued to block Oracle's takeover.

Oracle, which launched its bid for PeopleSoft in early June, said Monday it had acquired 43.77 million PeopleSoft shares -- or about 13.8 percent of the outstanding stock.

The Oracle bid is being reviewed for possible antitrust concerns by the Justice Department.

German company SAP is the world's biggest business software group.

SPACE.WIRE