SAP has announced its intent to acquire TechniData AG, a provider of product safety and environmental health solutions. Through this acquisition, SAP intends to expand its product portfolio as well as its market and thought leadership in sustainability.

Based in Markdorf, Germany, TechniData has been a strategic SAP partner for more than 15 years and has helped shape SAP’s sustainability offerings in the EHS arena. Employing nearly 500 people, TechniData provides systems integration and manages EHS services, regulatory content, and software to help companies comply with regulatory challenges in these areas. With SAP announcing its strategic commitment to sustainability in the spring of 2009, this acquisition is the next logical step between two companies that are both driven by the belief that sustainability is core to all business processes in the future.

This acquisition is in line with SAP’s strategy to complement existing applications and solutions with smart purchases that offer innovative technologies and functional capabilities. The strategy is guided by careful market assessments and focuses on adding value to customers’ investments in SAP, expanding the company’s abilities to support customers and partners in their sustainability approach. Through the acquisition of TechniData, SAP gains both a more comprehensive service offering and the talents of accomplished employees with deep knowledge of customer processes as well as SAP products and integration technologies.

The SAP EHS Management application helps companies address regulatory compliance in the areas of product, plant, and people safety. It helps to reduce both EHS risks and compliance costs at the same time, a result unobtainable in traditional labor-intensive and error-prone non-IT-supported compliance processes. The solution is designed to natively integrate into SAP® Business Suite software.

SAP anticipates that the acquisition will be completed in the beginning of the third quarter of 2010 and will provide additional details about future plans after the closing of the transaction. Terms and purchase price are not publicly disclosed.