SAP AG ($SAP) , the world’s largest business- management software maker, plans to boost its investments in China, the Middle East and North Africa.

SAP will spend more than $2.5 billion in the markets through 2015, co-Chief Executive Officer Bill McDermott said today at a shareholders meeting in Mannheim, Germany.

“We need to scale our operations in these markets to capture growth potential,” he said.

Investments will be focused on solutions creation, the nurturing of local technology systems and the expansion of SAP’s geographical footprint and support network, McDermott said.

SAP late yesterday announced that it agreed to buy Ariba Inc. (ARBA) for $4.3 billion in its second multi-billion purchase in six months in cloud computing to take on Oracle Corp. (ORCL)

To contact the reporter on this story: Joseph de Weck in Frankfurt at jdeweck@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Kenneth Wong at kwong11@bloomberg.net

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-05-23/sap-...d=msnmoney