Siebel to Buy Scopus for $461.3 Million

Siebel Systems Inc. said it agreed to buy Scopus Technology Inc. for $461.3 million in stock, a move that would create the biggest vendor of sales-management and customer-service software. Under terms of the transaction, Siebel would pay 0.36405 of its shares for each of Scopus’ 21 million shares outstanding. San Mateo-based Siebel writes software that helps corporate sales teams find prospective clients and manage big sales projects. Emeryville-based Scopus writes computer programs for customer-service operations to manage trouble-shooting requests. Shares of Scopus surged $4.44 to close at $18.56 on Nasdaq. Siebel stock fell $5.88 to close at $55.63, also on Nasdaq.