SAP has agreed to acquire Ariba, a leader in collaborative commerce applications, for $4.3bn as the German enterprise software company expands its cloud offerings. The deal will be probably be completed by the end of August.

SAP said the acquisition of Ariba will create new models for business-to-business collaboration in the cloud and positions SAP in a fast-growing segment as demand for cloud-based services increases. SAP said it plans to consolidate all cloud-based assets of SAP under Ariba.

While it will integrate it with SAP business software products, Ariba will still serve non-SAP customers and will continue to be run as an independent business known as 'Ariba, an SAP company'.

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This really could kick start colaborative e-commerce, as long as SAP's way of working is not allowed to kill Ariba's entrepreneurial spirit.