SAP CEO Henning Kagermann may name replacement soon

The SAP CEO succession mystery may be coming to an end. The rumor is that current CEO Henning Kagermann, who's contract expires at the end of this year, will announce later this month his plan to vacate the position and announce a replacement. In fact, SAP's supervisory board is in session tomorrow, and the board--led by Hasso Plattner, SAP's co-founder and including eight outside directors and eight non-executive employees--may be discussing the CEO transition.

The other candidate has been Shai Agassi, the 38-year-old president of SAP's Product & Technology Group, and also a member of the Executive Board, who joined SAP in 2001 after his company, TopTier, was acquired. 

Henning, who turns 60 this year, won't likely leave before the end of the year, and in fact may renew his contract for another year before handing over the reins. In January SAP spokesman Steve Bauer said that Plattner would propose a contract extension through the end of 2008 for Kagermann.  Stay tuned...

For background see Dawn Kawamoto's story on the SAP CEO succession