BEA Systems is rejecting last week's cash takeover bid from Oracle because the offer is not high enough.

The database giant made an unsolicited offer to buy the middleware specialist at $17 (£8.36) per share. But BEA declined the deal.

"It is apparent to our board that BEA is worth substantially more to Oracle, to others and, importantly, to our shareholders than the price indicated," wrote BEA vice president William Klein to Oracle president Charles Phillips on Friday.

Klein's response also indicates that BEA is reluctant to enter into a drawn-out takeover process.

"As we have made clear to you in previous discussions, we are very sensitive to the fact that Oracle is a direct competitor of BEA.

"Therefore, the board cannot consider any process which is long in duration, open-ended in nature, or would divulge competitively sensitive information which could
materially harm our business and our shareholders' interests."