ASG ups credit facility to $250m

BELTSVILLE, Md.—ASG Security now has a quarter of a billion dollars on hand, thanks to a recent $20 million extension of its previous $230 million credit facility, the company announced April 25.

ASG closed that $230 million facility  just over a year, in January 2011. Why add to it now?

“The capital is available and terms are very favorable,” ASG CFO Ralph Masino told Security Systems News. “We didn't need the additional capacity today, but it gives us ample dry powder to fund growth for the next two to three years, and allows us to accelerate growth for the right opportunity if we want to.”

CapitalSource is the agent for ASG's credit facility and led this deal. The lender group also includes Bank of America, Citizens Bank, Madison Capital, PrivateBank, and Goldman Sachs Specialty Lending Group.

“Everyone is so pleased with the way ASG is performing, several [of us] decided to step up additional exposure,” Will Schmidt, CapitalSource managing director, told SSN. “It's a strong sign of confidence in the company,” he said.

ASG recently opened its 22nd branch office. It completed 10 acquisitions in 2011, including two large deals in December in Oklahoma and Texas.

“We have a few letters of intent out right now that we hope to get signed up,” Masino said. “I expect we'll do eight to ten acquisitions in 2012. We've done three small [unannounced] transactions so far this year.”

While ASG is known for being acquisitive, Masino noted that most of the company's growth is organic.

“In 2011, we generated $1 million in RMR internally, and we acquired $775,000 in RMR.” ASG ended 2011 with $7 million in RMR.

“Acquisitions are important to build density [but they're] really done to complement our organic sales and installation engine,” Masino said.