Stanley to acquire Sonitrol, sell off CST-Berger

NEW BRITAIN, Conn.--The Stanley Works announced June 11 two separate agreements to acquire monitoring and installation firm Sonitrol for $275 million and sell off its CST/berger laser leveling and measuring business, based in West Lafayette, Ind., to Robert Bosch Tool Corporation for $205 million. Stanley called Sonitrol the eighth largest electronic security company in the United States, with revenues of roughly $110 million annually. It bought 100 percent of the Sonitrol shares from an ownership group comprising Carlyle Venture Partners, Wachovia Capital Partners and Spire Capital Partners as well as selected members of Sonitrol management. Stanley announced the purchase price as 10x EBITDA. As for CST/berger, the operation had 2007 revenues of $80 million (excluding certain European sales of approximately $10 million), primarily in North American construction-related markets. John F. Lundgren, chairman and chief executive officer, commented in a statement that, "These two transactions are important steps toward advancing our growth strategy and repositioning the company to be less dependent on construction and DIY markets. We continue to be strongly committed to shifting the company's portfolio into higher-growth, higher-return areas such as electronic security. The addition of Sonitrol, with its iconic brand and strong franchisee and direct sales network, expands the scale of our existing North American monitoring operation, increases our recurring revenue and adds breadth and depth to our electronic security product offering." Sonitrol brings a substantial national account base to Stanley's Convergent Security Solutions platform, which was built on the late 2006 purchase of HSM and recently added A-1 Security, of Las Vegas. Tyco sold what is now Sonitrol to Spire, Carlyle and Wachovia for $125.5 million in 2004. According to Jeff Kessler, an independent analyst covering the security industry, and a former Lehman Brothers analyst, the company claimed $85 million in revenue at the time. He also believes the company has $5.7 million in RMR now, which would make the purchase price a 48x multiple of RMR. In addition to the two transactions announced on June 11, the company is developing plans to exit several small, non-strategic product lines during the remainder of the year with associated revenues of approximately $60 million.