[THE INVESTOR] Mark Hurd, the co-chief executive of California-based Oracle, may be close to striking software deals with local conglomerates that could include Samsung and POSCO, according to those close to the matter.

The co-CEO of the San Francisco-based company arrived in Seoul on July 14 to meet with executives from these partner firms.

“There may be several big deals being negotiated behind the scenes,” said one industry watcher, declining to be identified.

Oracle Korea’s PR office refused to confirm the speculation.

Samsung and POSCO, along with their affiliates, are currently employing Oracle’s on-premise and cloud-based solutions. Samsung and Oracle announced earlier this year that they would collaborate to develop cloud mobile solutions.

The Oracle executive will also meet with executives and employees from Oracle’s Korean office. The branch has 120 engineers, developers, and salespeople working for its cloud business segment in Korea, and it plans to hire 190 more staff members to beef up its cloud business capacity.

Since joining Oracle in 2010, Mark Hurd, the former CEO of tech firm HP, visited Seoul in 2012 and 2015.

On his visit to Seoul in 2015, he reportedly met with Samsung Electronics’ mobile business CEO Shin Jong-kyun to discuss mobile cloud collaboration.

The executive has been traveling around Asia this week, promoting the firm’s cloud-based services and solutions. His previous stop was Singapore.

By Kim Young-won (wone0102@heraldcorp.com">wone0102@heraldcorp.com)