New impulse for Germany’s 80 million electronic healthcare cards IT project
EL-ME, a CCV company, acquires eGK business line of Celectronic
MUNICH, Germany, 30 October 2008 – EL-ME AG, a CCV company and one of the leading vendors in the market for secure electronic payment systems in Germany, today announced the acquisition of the eGK activities of Celectronic, an acclaimed brand in the field of healthcare cards. Last August Celectronic successfully passed the prerequisite functional e-Health-BCS (Basic Command Set) test from Gematik, the German healthcare organisation and initiator of the new prestigious electronic healthcare cards. Approval of eHealth-BCS as a card terminal will be soon sought.
EL-ME’s new Celectronic product portfolio will give a positive impulse on Germany’s new e-Health card program, which is one of the largest IT projects worldwide with over 80 million electronic health insurance cards. They view this acquisition as an opportunity to maximise valuable synergies by pooling their respective expertise in the payment transactions segment and now also in the eHealth market. As a first result a combined terminal concept for the joint processing of the payment cards and new healthcare cards (eGK/eHealth) is being developed. The terminal is meant for installation in doctor's practices and hospitals. Reinhard Blum, CEO of EL-ME AG, comments: „This acquisition will be our strong entry in the important market of electronic health insurance cards. We believe we can give a great stimulant to the electronic transaction industry.“
Both of Celectronic's sites in Berlin and Korschenbroich, along with management staff and their workforce, will be integrated as a new business unit of EL-ME AG. Volker Czmok, founder of Celectronic GmbH in Berlin, will lead the new eHealth business unit and report directly to the Management Board in this function.
About Celectronic
Celectronic, founded in 1979 by Volker Czmok in Berlin, has been successfully active in the market for card readers for chip cards over 15 years. The company has developed into an acclaimed brand among doctors and systems vendors in the field of health insurance cards (KVK) in use to date. In the field of the future eGK, currently Celectronic is undergoing the German licensing procedure conducted by Gematik with its stationary terminal CARD STAR /medic2 and mobile device CARD STAR /memo2 Card. Based on the acquisition by EL-ME, a CCV company, the Celectronic product portfolio will be an integrated part of EL-ME’s offering.
About CCV – www.ccv.eu
CCV, founded in 1958 in Arnhem, is an international company with subsidiaries throughout Europe. The company is a specialist in payment solutions, processing and authorizing financial and loyalty transactions and the development and maintenance of loyalty and customer card systems. Based on advanced technology, CCV offers both standard products and customized solutions. CCV is value add distributor for VeriFone, the worldwide market leader in payment systems. CCV was involved in the development and operational exploitation of several chip card-loyalty projects for Esso, Total, BP, Q8 and Texaco. CCV payments solutions are used internationally in the wholesale, retail, petroleum and public transport sectors by all renowned network providers and acquirers, like MasterCard, Visa, B+S Card Service, Telecash/ First Data, easy cash and JCB. EL-ME AG, located near Munich (in Au i. d. Hallertau) in Germany, is a CCV company and one of the leading vendors in the market for secure electronic payment systems in Germany.
Please contact for more information:
CCV
Claudette Kroes-Boekhorst
Manager Marketing Communication
T +31 (0)26 38 49 648
M +31 (0)6 13 41 33 84
E c.kroes@nl.ccv.eu
I www.ccv.eu
