ADS makes second buy in Miss. this month

NASHVILLE, Tenn.—ADS Security, a regional security and automation company headquartered here, made its second buy in Mississippi this month with the completed acquisition of approximately 1,400 customer accounts of Alarm One Inc. in Columbus. The newly acquired accounts will be serviced by ADS Security's existing branch in Columbus.

John Cerasuolo, ADS president and CEO, told Security Systems News that he is thrilled to expand the company's presence in the state while adding talent from the Alarm One team.

“We are excited to have three folks from the Alarm One team who will be joining ADS, and that is always an important part of every acquisition,” Cerasuolo told SSN. “We view it as much more than accounts that we are acquiring; it is expertise and processes and talent that we get to add to our already existing great team that always helps to make us a little bit better.”

Alarm One does about 70 percent residential and 30 percent commercial business, and its customers will have access to the ADS advanced suite of residential and commercial services, including a mobile app, smart home technologies, video surveillance, and access control solutions, Cerasuolo said.

“With our office in Columbus, this adds to our customer base,” he noted. “Our goal is to be the premier local provider in all of the markets that we serve, so getting critical mass is important for building that reputation and the trust of customers in the market.”

This marks the third acquisition for ADS in 2018 and its 26th since 2014. Cerasuolo expects the pace to continue this year with more deals on the way.

“We have another deal that we expect to announce this summer and I am sure there will be a few more in the fall,” he said. “I expect this year to be as good or better than any year we have had in terms of acquisitions, and there a couple of reasons for that. First, every deal that we do builds our reputation and sellers share their good experiences, which builds momentum. And, second, we have an exceptional team here at ADS, so that whole acquisition process—and the post-deal integration process—we are able to handle, even a large volume of deals in succession.”

Established in 1990, ADS currently serves thousands of businesses, industrial facilities and residences throughout the southeastern United States. ADS Security also operates a UL-listed, private monitoring center in Middle Tennessee.