Security Sales & Integration January 2022 - 8

INDUSTRY PULSE
The COVID-19 pandemic
may have severely
dampened M&A deals in 2020, but
throughout the past year activity levels
continued to escalate supported by private
equity firms and strategic buyers.
Alper Cetingok, sector head of Raymond
James' Security & Safety unit,
explained during this past fall's Securing
New Ground conference that M&A volumes
are at record levels. Restructuring
activity in the residential sector continued
in 2021 with several assets recapitalized
during the year due to debt maturities,
covenants, among other factors. Also,
strong demand in the commercial security
sector persisted in 2021 after many businesses
benefitted from COVID-19 as well
as tailwinds from civil unrest in 2020.
" There are certainly market forces that
will create some challenges potentially to
sustaining this level of activity. But we do
believe there is too much private equity
capital - as well as too much interest on
the part of the strategic buyer community
- for us to see too much of a slowdown
going forward in 2022, " Cetingok
explained.
In one of the security industry's largest
deals in 2021, Sweden's Securitas agreed
to buy U.S. rival Stanley Black & Decker's
electronic security solutions business
for $3.2 billion. Securitas, the world's
biggest listed security services group, has
been pushing for years to increase sales of
electronic security services and reduce its
exposure to staff-intensive guarding.
Securitas' biggest competitor on the
global stage is now privately held Allied
Universal after it bought G4S in April for
$5.3 billion.
Stanley Black & Decker said the sale
was part of a strategy to sharpen its focus
on core businesses and said it would use
proceeds to partly fund a $4 billion share
repurchase in 2022. With the deal, Securitas
will buy back a business it originally
floated on the Stockholm Stock Exchange
8
NEWS ANALYSIS RESEARCH PEOPLE
Deals Hit Fever Pitch as 2021 Wraps
IN DEPTH
equipment. The company is also one of
the fastest-growing providers of integrated
security solutions. In December alone
it notched four deals: San Antonio-based
3Sixty Integrated; Memphis, Tenn.-based
Universal Manufacturing Co.; Bedford
Heights, Ohio-based Bass Security Services;
and Fountain Valley, Calif.-based
BlueViolet Networks.
Pye-Barker Goes West - Based in AtRed-hot
dealmaking is expected to
continue in 2022.
in 2006 under the name of Securitas Systems.
Stanley Black & Decker bought it
in 2011.
Securitas said it expected to complete
the deal in the first half of 2022 with
acquisition-related costs totaling about
$135 million, the majority of which
would be booked in 2022 and 2023. Also
in December, Securitas acquired Union,
N.J.-based Supreme Security Systems for
approximately $20 million.
Following are other significant M&A
deals that were revealed at the end of 2021.
Ares Sells Stake in Convergint - Ares
Management Corp. and Convergint announced
that Leonard Green & Partners
(LGP) and funds managed by Harvest
Partners have purchased equity in Convergint
from a fund managed by Ares'
Private Equity Group and other existing
shareholders.
As a result of the transaction - terms
were not initially disclosed - Ares, LGP
and Harvest will be financial partners with
the company. In 2018, a fund managed by
Ares' private equity group purchased Convergint
for undisclosed terms from investment
funds affiliated with KRG.
Cook & Boardman Buying Spree -
Cook & Boardman Group, a portfolio
company of Littlejohn & Co., is a leading
distributor of commercial doors, frames
& hardware and electronic access control
Security Sales & Integration JANUARY 2022
lanta, Pye-Barker Fire & Safety is a leader
in fire protection and life safety, with
more 100 locations and 3,000 employees.
The company expanded its national footprint
throughout the year with numerous
deals, including the purchase of Ogden,
Utah-based Mountain Alarm. Founded
in 1952, Mountain Alarm operates 14
locations across the Intermountain West
with more than 60,000 monitored accounts
and over 350 employees. In June,
PE firm Altas Partners acquired a majority
stake in Pye-Barker.
PE Firm Snaps Up Unlimited - Lee
Equity Partners, a growth middle market
private equity firm, acquired a majority
ownership interest in Unlimited Technology,
a systems integrator based in Chester
Springs, Pa. The full-service integrator's
portfolio includes Exero, a Cloud-based
SaaS health-based monitoring system, to
increase operational efficiency and provide
customers with real-time insights
across IoT devices.
National Providers Unite - Alert
360 and My Alarm Center agreed to
merge to create a leading operator in the
highly fragmented smart security industry.
Funds managed by Invesco will be the
majority owners of the combined business
upon closing. Terms were not disclosed.
Alert 360 President/CEO Richard
Ginsburg, an SSI Industry Hall of Famer,
will lead the combined company as chief
executive. Anastasia Bottos, current president
and COO of My Alarm Center, will
continue in the same roles with the combined
business.
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Security Sales & Integration January 2022

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