SAP offers $3.4bn for software firm

Germanys SAP announced a $3.4bn cash deal to buy United States web-based software company SuccessFactors, joining the scramble among technology firms to offer cloud-computing services to businesses, Reuters reported on Saturday.SAP said on Saturday it would pay $40 per share for SuccessFactors, a premium of 52 per cent over both its Friday closing price and the one-month volume-weighted average price, making it expensive for any rival bidder that might want to put in a counter bid.SuccessFactors, which first went public at $10 a share four years ago, makes human resources software used by companies to review employee performance,.It competes with Taleo Corporation and Kenexa Corporation.The deal helps SAP catch up in cloud computing, a fast-growing field where data and processes are hosted remotely on the Web. Analysts have warned that the German company risked losing ground to US rival Oracle Corporation.
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