By Falguni Bhuta

Looks like Henning Kagermann just got an extension. The CEO of German software giant SAP was asked to keep his job for another year after he turns 60 in July.

The business software giant’s policy is to renew a CEO’s contract on an annual basis once he or she turns 60. However, with SAP chairman Hasso Plattner telling German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung that the company’s board will offer Mr. Kagermann an extension, his place seem secure for another year.

Nevertheless speculation continues about who will lead SAP next. The succession plan at SAP has long been a sensitive area. Chai Agassi and Leo Apotheker, the two most talked about possible successors to Mr. Kagermann, are known for very different styles. And following Mr. Kagermann’s act will be no easy task.

Mr. Kagermann has had a huge impact on SAP. Since taking the job in 1998, Mr. Kagermann has led the company through a tech bust, which saw the company’s stock plunge from $52 in 1998 to $11 in 2002. He has since led the company back and SAP’s revenues have grown to more than $10 billion in fiscal 2005 from $7.7 billion in 2002. As a result, SAP’s shares are trading in the $55 range once more.

Those successes only make the question of who will succeed him more urgent. Mr. Apotheker is the Paris-based, gray-haired sales expert who has been at the company since 1991. By contrast, the 38-year-old Mr. Agassi is a technologist and an entrepreneur, who came to the company in 2001 with the acquisition of his company, TopTier.

The board members will next meet on February 15 and one of the items on the board meeting agenda will be to discuss Mr. Kagermann’s contract, as confirmed by a spokesman.

Shares of the Walldorf, Germany-based SAP fell $0.48 to $54.13 Wednesday.