Sun Agrees to Acquire SeeBeyond

Sun Microsystems Inc. agreed to buy SeeBeyond Technology Corp. for $387 million in cash to add software that helps websites and business programs work together.

SeeBeyond investors would receive $4.25 a share, 30% more than the company’s closing price Monday.

The acquisition, Sun’s second this month and fourth in 2005, would let the company sell software packages based on its Java technology. The deal is expected to be completed this fall.

Santa Clara, Calif.-based Sun agreed to buy Storage Technology Corp. for $4.1 billion on June 2.

Sun Chief Executive Scott McNealy said the company still had enough cash to continue the buying spree.

“It definitely gives them the potential to generate revenue,” said Megan Graham-Hackett, a New York-based equities analyst at Standard & Poor’s who rates the shares “hold.” “We’ve heard in the past that Sun expected to monetize Java. We haven’t seen that in the top line.”

Sun has traditionally given away its core Java program in an effort to spread the technology’s adoption. Sun sells a set of five programs based on Java, and Monrovia-based SeeBeyond provides Java-based software that helps large companies coordinate different websites, such as those that manage salespeople and payrolls. The two companies formed a partnership in October 2004 to use each other’s products.

“It’s a simple problem, but it takes an amazing amount of technology to make it happen,” Sun President Jonathan Schwartz said.

Shares of Sun rose 5 cents to $3.74. SeeBeyond rose $1.01, or 31%, to $4.29.