Softwin buys Spanish software distributor

After Microsoft bought the RAV Antivirus technology made by Romanian company GeCAD Software in June, the market share of rival company Softwin soared.

Softwin shortly managed to get some of the RAV clients, which had been left without any possibility to upgrade their antivirus technology, as Microsoft did not buy the Romanian-made solution in order to sell it, but to integrate it into its software products. Last month, Softwin opened a branch in Germany, after having launched a subsidiary in France first. Also, the company yesterday said it had bought Spanish company Constelacion Negocial. Softwin officials did not disclose the value of the transaction.

Constelacion Negocial is a company operating in local distribution and the sale of security software, and its purchase is part of Softwin’s strategy to establish local offices on every key market in the world. The Spanish company was already distributing BitDefender solutions in Spain and Portugal.

“We have come to the conclusion that we need to be closer to our customers and now is the best time,” said Bogdan Irina, a manager with Softwin. BitDefender sold some 128,000 licences in Spain and is planning to get about 5% of the Spanish market of antivirus technologies in the next two years.

BitDefender was conceived seven years ago, but back then it was called AVX. According to the manufacturer, the BitDefender technology protects more than 38 million users in 80 countries.

Softwin was established in 1990, and is a Romanian company developing and selling solutions and services in IT and communications. The company has more than 500 employees and, according to Finance Ministry data, last year posted turnover worth almost 107bn ROL and net profit of 32bn ROL.

Softwin officials estimate turnover to go up 25% this year, which would push the company’s total revenues up to some 134 billion ROL.

iuliana.susanu@zf.ro