LOS ANGELES, Oct. 25 (Xinhua) -- U.S. software company BEA Systems put a price tag of over 8 billion dollars on Thursday for any potential buyers, citing its leadership in the industry, deep customer base and growth opportunities in China and other markets.

The new offer would break a deadlock that has stalled buyout negotiations between the California business software maker and Silicon Valley giant Oracle, which is eager to buy BEA as a step to strengthen its position in the lucrative Internet operation software market.

Oracle announced earlier this month that it was offering to but BEA for 6.7 billion dollars, or 17 dollars a share, a price then refused by the company.

BEA's new offer, equal to 21 dollars a share, is more than Oracle has agreed to pay, but lower than the 24 to 27 dollars price range that some industry analysts said Oracle could afford.

BEA officials said in a letter to Oracle released Thursday that Oracle's earlier offer "significantly undervalues" the company and was not in the best interests of its shareholders.

The letter noted that BEA's leader in business software industry and its deep customer base, including 75 percent of the Fortune Global 500 companies, growth opportunities in China and elsewhere and a healthy balance sheet.

The company said a buyer could expect an earnings boost from acquiring it that would justify paying even more than the price it offers.

BEA has been under pressure to find a buyer from some of major shareholders while Oracle wants to buy it to pre-empt a potential acquisition by rivals, including industry big names like IBM, SAP and Hewlett-Packard.

If a deal is reached between the two companies, it would be Oracle's largest acquisition effort since 2004 when it bought PeopleSoft for 10.3 billion dollars.