Back to: Home arrow Our Results arrow Information required by Section 315

INFORMATION CONCERNING TAKEOVERS, AS REQUIRED BY THE GERMAN COMMERCIAL CODE, SECTION 315 (4), WITH EXPLANATORY MATERIAL

As a group parent company using an organized market in the meaning of the German Securities Acquisition and Takeover Act, section 2 (7), for voting shares that we have issued, we are required by the German Commercial Code, section 315 (4) (1 to 9), to provide the following details in our Review of Group Operations. We also include explanatory material along with the compulsory disclosures:

  • SAP AG’s capital stock is € 1,225,762,900, issued as 1,225,762,900 common no-par bearer shares. Each share has an attributable value of € 1. One common share entitles the bearer to one vote. American depositary receipts (ADRs) representing our shares are listed on the NYSE in the United States. One SAP ADR corresponds to one SAP share. ADRs are deposit certificates of non-U.S. shares that are traded on U.S. stock exchanges instead of the underlying shares.
  • The SAP shares are not subject to transfer restrictions. We are not aware of any other restrictions affecting voting rights or the transfer of SAP shares.
  • SAP held 38,456,734 treasury shares on December 31, 2008. This treasury stock does not entitle us to any rights, and hence to any voting rights or dividend. The Executive Board is entitled to resell or cancel treasury stock. In accordance with the German Stock Corporation Act, section 71 (1) (8), in certain situations the Executive Board is also authorized, with the permission of the Supervisory Board, to alienate treasury stock and to exclude the preemptive rights of the shareholders.
  • Founding shareholder and Supervisory Board chairperson Hasso Plattner had direct SAP AG holdings and indirect holdings in SAP AG through companies and trusts under his control totaling 10.523% of the capital stock on December 31, 2008. For more details on SAP AG’s ownership structure, see the Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements section, Note 20 . Except as reported above, we are not aware of any direct or indirect capital holdings that exceed 10% of the voting rights. Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas holds approximately 7.6% of the SAP AG capital stock in trust to facilitate ADR trading on the NYSE.
  • The SAP AG Articles of Incorporation do not entitle any individual SAP shareholder to appoint members to the Supervisory Board, nor do shareholders have special rights conferring supervisory powers on them in any other respect.
  • In votes on formal approval of their acts, employee representatives on the Supervisory Board are not permitted to exercise the voting rights associated with shares. Beyond this, there are no voting right restrictions for SAP shares held by employees.
  • Conditions for the appointment and dismissal of members of the Executive Board and amendment of the Articles of Incorporation reflect the relevant provisions in the German Stock Corporation Act. Under the SAP Articles of Incorporation, the Executive Board consists of at least two members who are appointed for a period of not more than five years by the SAP Supervisory Board in accordance with the German Stock Corporation Act, section 84. The Supervisory Board can appoint a chairperson of the Executive Board and one or more deputy chairpersons from among the members of the Executive Board. The Articles of Incorporation also stipulate that the Supervisory Board can appoint deputy Executive Board members, who have the same rights as the full members regarding the external representation of SAP AG. The Supervisory Board can revoke appointments to the Executive Board in accordance with the German Stock Corporation Act, section 84, if compelling reasons exist, such as gross negligence on the part of the Executive Board member. If the Executive Board is short of a required member, one may be appointed in urgent cases by a court in accordance with the German Stock Corporation Act, section 85.
  • The Articles of Incorporation are amended by means of a resolution of the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders with a majority of at least three-quarters of the common stock represented in the vote in accordance with the German Stock Corporation Act, sections 179, 133. Our Articles of Incorporation do not contain any provisions that conflict with this stipulation.