The German software company SAP has shelled out $3.4bn (£2.2bn) in cash to acquire the human resources software firm SuccessFactors, it was revealed on Saturday.

The deal sees SAP buy out the California-based company at a valuation of $40 a share – 52 per cent above the price of SuccessFactors’ shares at the close of play on Friday.

SuccessFactors specialises in human resources data management, specifically tools that enable its clients to review the performances of their employees. Having been founded in 2001, the company now has 3,500 customers and 15 million users in 168 countries, making it one of the largest ‘apps-in-the-cloud firm’ in the world.

The company will be incorporated into SAP’s Business ByDesign branch as a means of expanding the German software giant’s range of cloud-based SaaS offerings which it has hitherto been slow to get off the ground.

Bill McDermott, co-chief executive of SAP, said: “The cloud is a core of SAP’s future growth, and the combination of SuccessFactors’ leadership team and technology with SAP will create a cloud powerhouse. The acquisition will help us address the top priority for CEOs globally — managing people and talent.”

Lars Dalgaard, founder and CEO of SuccessFactors, added: “This is a revolutionary combination of proven capabilities that will allow SuccessFactors to accelerate our roadmap by 10 years, and bring the world’s leading application knowledge and intellectual property to our customers through the cloud, and the largest applications customer base instantly.”

The acquisition is set to be completed in the first quarter of 2012.