Expanding Globally Through M&A

If you’ve read our website over the last month or so, you’ve noticed an uptick in the amount of merger and acquisition (M&A) stories we’ve posted, and as Karen Carpenter beautifully sang so many years ago, we’ve only just begun.

The wheeling and dealing in the security industry have been hot and heavy during the late summer and early part of the fall season. In case you have not been able to keep up with the goings-on of all the business transactions over the past several days, here’s a quick summary of all the big M&A news that has taken place of late, with links to our articles to get further information on each deal.

Last month, ASSA ABLOY signed a definitive agreement to acquire the Hardware and Home Improvement (HHI) division of Spectrum Brands for a purchase price of $4.3 billion, expanding its presence in the North American residential segment which includes, but is not limited to, locksets.

Convergint, a worldwide leader in service-based systems integration, acquired two business units from ATS Companies - ATS Alaska and ATS Facility Systems – in order to expand its Northwest presence and bring the company its first technology center in Alaska. 

Just last week, global cloud video surveillance leader Eagle Eye Networks announced the acquisition of artificial intelligence (AI) innovator Uncanny Vision, including the company’s research and development capabilities and a new regional office in Bangalore, India. 

We’re only six days into October, and we saw two major acquisitions in one day. First, we saw Delta, a global leader in power and thermal management solutions, announce it has acquired Canadian-based video surveillance and business intelligence leader March Networks for $114 million, in order to strengthen Delta's presence in the growing video surveillance market. 

Shortly after we posted Delta’s acquisition, another huge deal went down as Nice, a global manufacturer of Smart Home, Security, and Home & Building Automation solutions, acquired Nortek Security & Control for $285 million, marking the largest investment to date by the Italy-based company.

Whew, let me catch my breath for a second (and it’s not because I just turned 50 yesterday). Why such a flurry of M&A activity in the security industry? Well, if you read the comments of key executives involved in these M&A deals, one common thread seems to be permeating – the idea of expanding their companies’ global footprint.

Convergint Executive Vice President Sean Flint outlined his company’s M&A strategy when he told us the reasons behind the latest acquisitions. “Over the past few years, Convergint has focused on expanding its global footprint and deepening its expertise across growing vertical markets,” he explained. “This strategy allows us to scale alongside our customers to meet the growing demand for innovation and support them globally.”

Eagle Eye Networks CEO Dean Drako also talked about expanding its presence globally in the area of AI video surveillance when he told Security Systems News why the acquisition of Uncanny Vision – only the second acquisition in company history – was so important to his company going forward.

“Very important for us and our strategy, especially when you think about the compute capability in the cloud, which is far easier for our customers to deploy (just click a button) and at far lower cost because of the economies of scale of doing it in the cloud,” he said. “Eagle Eye will be the first company in the world to be able to provide that level of functionality, and actually the only one that can do because we are the only ones who send all of the video to the cloud.”

Global expansion was also a catalyst for Nice’s acquisition of Nortek Security and Control, according to Lauro Buoro, Chairman and Founder of Nice.

“This acquisition reinforces our strong commitment to North America and significantly expands our global footprint,” he said.

As these executives point out, expanding their respective companies on a global scale is seen as a win-win for the buyer and the acquired organization. The two companies involved in each merger or acquisition could feed off each other’s strengths and help each other become even more of a major player in the security industry, while at the same time retaining valuable employees on each side whose shared insights and expertise will only help each entity grow globally.

We hope that this increased M&A activity will continue, and we’ll be happy to report on each and every one of these deals on the web and in the print edition of Security Systems News.

Stay tuned! We’ve only just begun.