What will Avigilon do with $69 million?

Avigilon now has $69 million (Canadian) at its disposal for “general purposes and strategic acquisitions.”

The HD surveillance provider, which got into access control last May with the $17 million purchase of Red Cloud, today announced that it closed a $69 million bought deal equity financing.

So what will Avigilon do with the funds? I called Avigilon this morning to ask about plans for the funds. In an email response Alexander Fernandes, Avigilon president and CEO said: "... we look forward to growing Avigilon even further and will continue to consider potential opportunities as they arise. Although we are not presently considering any specific acquisitions, we are regularly presented with opportunities. The proceeds of our recent bought deal financing will allow us the flexibility to act upon any strategic opportunities that could complement Avigilon's original focus on video surveillance."

I asked Avigilon CEO Alexander Fernandes about possible acquisitions in an interview one year ago. This was prior to the Red Cloud acquisition, and he said that an access control purchase was possible.

Here's an excerpt from that interview.

With money in the bank, Avigilon will continue to add employees. The healthy balance sheet provides “stability and a better cushion,” Fernandes said. And while Fernandes emphasized that the company is “focused on internal growth,” it is in a position to make an acquisition if it sees fit.

What might fit? “Something outside of video but complementary and related … like analytics,” Fernandes said. Or access control? “That's possible,” he responded

Think it might acquire some more analytics capabilities now? We'll see.

AVigilon is also pouring money into its growth plan. Its recent investor presentation outlines the following steps to get to its goal of $500m in revenue in 2016. 1. Expanding its sales reach (in North America, South America, EMEA and the UK; expanding into APAC with a dedicated sales force; growing the business development team to target enterprise opportunities) 2. Building brand awareness; and 3. Accelerating innovation by investing in R&D team; improving product development structure to get products to market faster.

Avigilon had another rosy quarter—doubling its revenues since Q3 of 2012. Last year it reported $25.5 million in Q3 revenues. This year is reported $51.1 million. It reported $12.7 million in EBITDA in Q3, up from $4 million one year ago. And, it reported Q3 net income of $8.6 million, compared to $2.1 million one year ago.

The company announced the offering earlier this month. It issued 2,863, 270 common shares in Canada, for a price of $24.10 CDN. The offereing was underwritten by syndicate of underwriters led by GMP Securities L.P. and including BMO Capital Markets, National Bank Financial Inc., CIBC World Markets Inc., RBC Capital Markets, PI Financial Corp. and Cantor Fitzgerald Canada Corporation