PeopleSoft Inc. CEO Craig Conway told Colorado officials Wednesday that his company's $1.8 billion acquisition of Denver-based J.D. Edwards & Co. will eventually create new jobs in both California and Colorado.

Bill Owens, the governor of Colorado, and John Hickenlooper, the mayor of Denver, paid a visit to the business software maker's Pleasanton headquarters Wednesday as part of their tour of about 10 to 12 Bay Area companies.

The meeting was spurred in part by concerns that the PeopleSoft and J.D. Edwards marriage, which is expected to generate $150 million to $200 million in savings, could in turn cost Denver 500 to 1,000 jobs.

But the implication was that job losses would be minimal, Hickenlooper said after the meeting with PeopleSoft's executives.

"Their belief was the merged company would be stronger and be able to create jobs in both locations," Hickenlooper said. "They gave a compelling argument. I came away from the meeting feeling that this was not a bad thing for Colorado or California."

Conway is focused on combining the two software makers "effectively and quickly," Hickenlooper added.

Wednesday concluded the Colorado officials' 48-hour tour with dozens of executives to "tout the general economic environment of the city and the state as a whole" and "to encourage companies to perhaps expand their operations in Colorado or to attract new business in the future," said Dan Hopkins, press secretary for the governor. They left feeling that businesses in the hard-hit Silicon Valley will begin to expand their operations, both in California and in Colorado, in the next 12 months.

Steve Swasey, a PeopleSoft spokesman, confirmed the meeting, which came at the request of the governor and mayor. He declined to say what they discussed.

PeopleSoft's announcement in June that it planned to acquire J.D. Edwards sparked Oracle Corp.'s hostile takeover bid of PeopleSoft. PeopleSoft responded by speeding up the merger, which is expected to be finalized later this month.

Oracle, which upped its offer to $7.5 billion last month to take into account PeopleSoft's merger with J.D. Edwards, is awaiting antitrust approval from the Department of Justice. Its $19.50-per-share unsolicited offer expires next week, but it expects to extend the deadline.

Both Oracle and PeopleSoft have waged an aggressive campaign this summer to win support from customers and investors. But in the arena of public opinion, at least, PeopleSoft has the upper hand, according to Emeryville-based Techtel Corp.

In its survey of information technology buyers, positive opinion of PeopleSoft rose 30 percent, while positive opinion of Oracle fell 17 percent around the time of Oracle's hostile-takeover bid. Techtel said the drop means that Oracle has its work cut out to close its proposed deal with PeopleSoft, since it depends on support from regulators, investors and customers.

PeopleSoft, on the other hand, will be in better position than it was before Oracle's overtures if the deal doesn't go through, Techtel concluded.