SAP’s strategy to go beyond traditional enterprise resource planning, moving toward mobile, big data and cloud computing has begun a new chapter. German enterprise software giant SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) has acquired SuccessFactors (NYSE: SFSF), a provider of cloud-based human capital management solutions.

SAP subsidiary SAP America has entered into a definitive merger agreement in which the subsidiary of SAP would offer to acquire all outstanding shares of common stock of SuccessFactors for U.S. $40 per share in cash, representing an enterprise value of about $3.4 billion.

“This acquisition reinforces our cloud strategy. Its HCM solution complements ours,” said Luís César Verdi, president of SAP Brazil.

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SAP is basing its near-term growth on these three pillars — mobile, big data and cloud — with a goal of $27.4 billion (20 billion euros) in revenue by 2015.

U.S.-based SuccessFactors’ scalable cloud application platform supports organizations of all sizes from dozens to millions of users. The company counts about 3,500 customers in 168 countries, and reported revenue growth of 77% in the third quarter and 59% in the first nine months this year compared with those respective periods in 2010.

The per-share purchase price represents a 52% premium over both SuccessFactors’ Dec. 2 closing price and the one-month volume weighted average price per share.

The acquisition will be paid for from SAP’s cash on hand and a $1.3 billion term loan facility. The closing of the tender offer is conditioned on SuccessFactors stockholders tendering at least a majority of the outstanding shares of the company’s common stock (on a fully diluted basis) and clearances by relevant regulatory authorities. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2012 and slightly dilute SAP’s non-IFRS earnings per share in 2012.