Quanmax acquires funworld ag

Quanmax AG of Linz, Austria, acquired funworld ag - the game company threatened by - insolvency on September 13. The business will be operated unchanged. The leading provider of online entertainment games and online terminals will now benefit in the short term from synergy effects within the Group. The Italian funworld subsidiary funworld srl has also been acquired in the deal. The expansion of the international sales network and the development of innovative products will both be given strategic importance by the Quanmax Group.

funworld breathes again: All business including that of the Italian subsidiary is to continue virtually unchanged as a new own division within the Group following acquisition of the automatic machines producer by Quanmax AG. Little will change in this for funworld customers: all contact partners for sales and purchasing in particular will stay the same and the product range has also been taken over in full and will be continued with all its areas — from entertainment to sport betting and poker. A new update for the well known PHOTO PLAY machines will be launched in October.

Significant improvements will emerge clearly from using the Group synergies, such as those in support and logistics. Goods flows and a large share of all support work will be handled in future direct from the Quanmax-headquarters in Linz, with its optimal logistics location in the industrial district at the Linz Danube river port. The highly promising online area is to be further developed, following a significant recent turnover boost resulting among others from a funwin platform operated by an affiliate network.

funworld is not the sole Quanmax acquisition this year: A computer systems supplier based near Munich, Germany, was purchased a few weeks ago. The two acquisitions are clear signposts for the way ahead: The Linz Group — one of the leading IT producers in Austria — is in a process of change that is turning it into a technology company aiming for a significant value creation increase by developing technological know-how. Following on from the funworld acquisition Quanmax has now set an ambitious 100 million euros turnover target for 2010 to significantly top last year’s 60 million result.

Research, development and quality management are also being pushed ahead at dramatic speed within this growth framework: The Quanmax quality management system was certified in a first go to ISO 9001:2008 at the start of the year; cooperation in cloud computing has been launched with Softwarepark Hagenberg, a new departure which will also provide valuable technological links for the funworld-Division.

While the Group brand chiliGREEN is supplied to leading international retailers such as Media Markt and Saturn, Metro and the Neckermann mail order group, the MAXDATA range will be offered to meet the demands of B2B customers.

In addition to the well established PC companies with their locations in Germany and Switzerland in its holdings portfolio, the Quanmax Group is also a leading provider of IT security solutions through security and cloud security appliances specialist subsidiary SecureGUARD GmbH.