Alarm Capital Alliance expands in Georgia

NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa.—Alarm Capital Alliance acquired more than 1,200 accounts from Bulldog Security Services of Dacula, Ga., strengthening ACA's position in the Atlanta area.

“It expanded our coverage of that market geographically a little bit, as well as adding to the customer base,” Jason Grelle, ACA VP of business development, told Security Systems News.

ACA, which is based here, says its has more than 20,000 accounts in Georgia, and more than 170,000 customers nationwide.

Grelle declined to say how much RMR was involved, but said it was “a great transaction” that took only about a month from start to finish.

Bulldog had been active in the Atlanta market since 2004 and Grelle said it had a “seasoned customer base” that was about 80 percent residential.

“It's a very similar account base to what we have here currently. So it was a very nice fit for us,” Grelle said.

A Bulldog technician will be joining ACA “and we'll be covering service [of the new accounts] out of our branch there,” he said.

He added, “We will probably maintain the Bulldog name on [the accounts] for some time.”

Grelle said that ACA has an opportunity to upgrade many of the new accounts. While Bulldog offered GSM and interactive services, it may not have actively solicited longtime customers about such additions, he said.

“Some of the older accounts may not have some of those features, so when we bring them into the fold, we continually will send out newsletters and bill statements about different types of features that can be added,” Grelle explained. “So I would anticipate a lot of these customers adding additional services on top of what traditional burglar services they currently have.”

Drue Thomas, ACA acquisitions manager, coordinated the acquisition. Assisting Jones in the sale of Bulldog was Steve Rubin, of Long Grove, Ill.-based Davis Mergers and Acquisitions Group.