Opower Inc (NYSE:OPWR) shares jumped 30.13% to $10.28 after Oracle announced its plans to buy the company for $532 million as part of its cloud solutions.
Opower Inc (NYSE:OPWR) provides cloud data solutions for the utilities industry by gathering data from utilities such as PG&E, Exelon and National Grid then analyzing these through its cloud service. In doing so, they are able to provide reports for the clients to stay ahead of customer and regulatory requirements.
Oracle Corporation is an American multinational computer technology company based in California. It specializes in developing and marketing database software and technology, cloud engineered systems, and enterprise software products. It also builds tools for enterprise resource planning software, customer relationship management software, and supply chain management software.
Opower went public in April 2014 after raising $66 million, trading at $23 per share. However, share prices have gone downhill since, even reaching around $6.25 in March this year. So far, their services have a limited market, catering to around a hundred utility companies as its current clients.
However, this deal with Oracle potentially gives Opower Inc (NYSE:OPWR) a ready and steady supply of clients in the cloud utilities market. “Together, Oracle Utilities and Opower will be the largest provider of mission-critical cloud services to utilities,” Rodger Smith, senior vice president and general manager for Oracle Utilities Global Business Unit said in a statement.
As it is, the cloud solutions market is growing, with major companies such as Amazon, Microsoft, Google, and IBM all competing for a huge slice of the pie. The Opower board has already approved the deal and this is set to close sometime later this year, pending standard regulatory and stockholder approvals. With this arrangement, Opower Inc (NYSE:OPWR) aims to be the largest provider of mission-critical cloud services to utilities.
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