News

QubicaAMF Poised to Bring in a New Era of Bowling with Fully Invested Qubica Legacy Partners Ownership Team

December 1, 2014 (Mechanicsville, VA) – QubicaAMF Worldwide (QubicaAMF), the world’s largest manufacturer of bowling products, is shaking things up once again. The industry leader announces that the Qubica legacy partners, Roberto Vaioli, Luca Drusiani, Emanuele Govoni, Guido Sorba, Pat Ciniello, Frank Mascadri and Rich Albright, have finalized a transaction with Bowlmor AMF to acquire their ownership in the company. After nearly a decade since the creation of QubicaAMF, the company will operate under a single private ownership.

After acquiring the former Mendes company in 2003, the owners of Qubica entered into a 50/50 joint venture with the owners of AMF Bowling Products in June 2005, to form QubicaAMF. In September 2013, the Qubica founders and legacy partners bought the remaining shares from the European private equity fund that co-owned Qubica, giving them 50% ownership of QubicaAMF. Just over one year later, the Qubica legacy partners have acquired 100% ownership of QubicaAMF.
 
Emanuele Govoni, former CEO of Qubica Worldwide and QubicaAMF Chief Marketing Officer will serve as the CEO of QubicaAMF.
 
“With this transaction we are going back to our roots, and believe we are positioning our company, and the entire bowling industry, for a new era. We are extremely honored after 20 years of experience in this great industry, to now have the opportunity to take the legendary AMF brand along with Qubica, to the next level. Since the inception of Qubica in 1993, we have been incredibly lucky and blessed and are very thankful our journey in the bowling industry will continue for many years to come,” said says Emanuele, the newly appointed CEO for QubicaAMF. “To make this happen, our group decided to invest our own money. We are all in for this industry and believe in this company, in our customers and in our many great employees around the world. We are very excited about the potential and the opportunities around the future of bowling. Bowling has great fundamentals as a business, as an entertainment activity and as a sport. We will work hard to contribute to the creation of a revitalized and re-energized industry where fun, innovation and transformation will spur new economic growth for our customers around the world.”
 
Pat Ciniello, former President and Chairman of Qubica Worldwide and President of QubicaAMF Worldwide, LLC will be the Chairman of the Board of QubicaAMF.
 
“Over the last few years, while many companies have been adversely affected by the global slowdown, QubicaAMF has continued to aggressively invest in its product lines to dramatically increase our customer’s success. Products such as BES X, the new Harmony Line and the XLi Edge have been the result of nearly 5 years of continued investment. I personally have continued to believe in bowling, building two new bowling entertainment centers,” says Pat Ciniello, Chairman of the Board of QubicaAMF. “QubicaAMF is uniquely positioned, and fully dedicated, to continue on the path of delivering the most innovative, high quality products to make our customers more profitable and make bowling a fun and top of mind entertainment destination to attract millions of new consumers.”
 
QubicaAMF has revolutionized the bowling industry many times over with its product innovations and industry-firsts beginning with the first mass produced automatic pinspotter introduced by AMF in 1946, the world’s first Surlyn coated bowling pin, the first mechanical bumper system, its best-selling Conqueror Pro center management system, the XLi EDGE Pinspotter, BES X, the world’s only Bowler Entertainment System, and most recently the new, turn-key Harmony Furniture, Ball Return and Masking System Line.
 
“Technology and innovation are our passion. They are part of who we are,” says Roberto Vaioli, Chief Product Architect for QubicaAMF. “That’s why, unlike any other company, we continue to invest in and maintain the largest employed R&D team in the industry. We don’t outsource this, R&D is our soul.”
 
“Creating a great place to work for our employees and a big multinational family, is our mission. We believe that if we treat our employees as family members and inspire and empower them to succeed, they will take care of our customers delivering the tools and the service they need to prevail and grow in the crowded entertainment arena,” says Luca Drusiani, SVP Operations for QubicaAMF Italy.
 
QubicaAMF remains the largest bowling products company in the world with 500 employees, technicians and sales representatives globally, and worldwide headquarters and manufacturing facilities in Richmond, VA, European headquarters and software development in Bologna, Italy, and pin manufacturing operations in Lowville, NY. The company has sales offices in 12 countries, a distributor network with worldwide reach and maintains the largest R&D team in the industry.
 
About QubicaAMF Worldwide
QubicaAMF Worldwide is the world’s leading manufacturer and marketer of bowling and mini bowling products. With worldwide headquarters near Richmond, Virginia and European headquarters in Bologna, Italy, the company offers a complete line of high-quality, innovative solutions for new and existing bowling and entertainment centers.
 
QubicaAMF has over 75 years of experience, an installed base of more than 10,000 centers worldwide and can provide the perfect combination of bowling equipment, products and services to build a traditional bowling center, an FEC or entertainment facility to suit any budget.
 
QubicaAMF is the organizer of the QubicaAMF Bowling World Cup, the largest annual sporting event in terms of the number of participating countries, which promotes bowling on a global level. This year the company celebrated the historical 50th anniversary of the tournament in Wroclaw, Poland.
 
Additional information about QubicaAMF Worldwide is available at www.qubicaamf.com.
 
 About BOWLMOR AMF
Bowlmor AMF is the largest operator of bowling centers in the world, with 340 domestic locations, 8 locations in Mexico and 3 in Canada, that specialize in corporate and special events, as well as league and walk-in retail bowling. The company was created in 2013 following the merger of Bowlmor, an upscale bowling and entertainment company, and AMF Bowling Worldwide. Bowlmor AMF acquired Brunswick’s bowling center business in 2014, and its portfolio of bowling retail brands includes AMF, Bowlmor Lanes, Bowlero, Brunswick Bowling, Brunswick Zone, Brunswick Zone XL and Brunswick’s brands. For more information, please visit www.bowlmor.com, www.amf.com, www.bowlero.com and www.bowlbrunswick.com.
 
 Contact
Stephanie Darby, WW Marketing Communications Manager
QubicaAMF Worldwide
sdarby@qubicaamf.us
+1-804-559-8608

2014/12/01

ABOUT QUBICAAMF WORLDWIDE

QubicaAMF is the largest and most innovative bowling equipment provider in the world with 600 employees worldwide. We build and modernize more bowling entertainment centers than any other company in the industry and have an installed base of more than 10,000 centers in 90 countries. The company has a sales and distribution network with worldwide reach and maintains the largest R&D team for electro-mechanical products, software, electronics, and entertainment systems in the industry.

QubicaAMF has over 100 years of experience and can provide the perfect combination of bowling equipment, products, and services for new or existing bowling entertainment centers, FECs, Cinemas, or any other facility in the hospitality, retail, or restaurant industry. Our ongoing mission is Making Bowling Amazing. We are convinced that bowling has so much more potential to attract and entertain even more people. With our products, we will help our customers fully unleash that potential.

The company has U.S. headquarters in Richmond, Virginia and European headquarters in Bologna, Italy.