Oracle says if it bid for BEA, would be below $17

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Oracle Corp (ORCL.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) Chief Executive Larry Ellison said on Wednesday that if his company were to make another offer for BEA Systems Inc BEAS.O, it would be below its original $17-per-share offer.

Oracle, the world's number-three software maker, withdrew its bid on October 28 and BEA has said it would begin negotiations to sell the company with any suitor willing to start talks at $21 a share.

So far BEA, a business software maker, has not disclosed that anybody has come forth with such a proposal.

"It looks like nobody is going to buy BEA," Ellison said during an analyst meeting in San Francisco late on Wednesday.

"At $17 a share it was a highly accretive transaction. Why were we buying them? For the money," he said. "If we made another offer, the price would be lower."

(Reporting by Eric Auchard, with additional reporting by Jim Finkle in Boston; Editing by Braden Reddall)