Guardian Alarm acquired

SOUTHFIELD, Mich.—Guardian Alarm, a super-regional security company based here, on March 1 was acquired by U.S.-based investment firms Certares LP and Vanwall Holdings LLC.

“We've found some great partners that are very familiar in the consumer business, and this is a great platform for them to introduce themselves into the security industry,” David Goldstein, Guardian's newly named CEO, told Security Systems News. Goldstein joined Guardian Alarm as its president in 2009.

Goldstein noted that this is the first investment in the security space for both Certares and Vanwall Holdings. Financial terms of the deal were not released.

Also announced alongside the acqusition was that Mike Snyder, former president of ADT Security, will join the team as chairman and advisor to the company.

The deal will give Guardian access to capital that will help the company grow organically and through acquisition, according to Goldstein.

Guardian currently has acquisitions on the horizon. “We've got three pending acquisitions that should happen in the next sixty days in our footprint, which is Ohio [and] Michigan,” Goldstein said.

The company is also working on internal growth initiatives. “We intend to add an additional 20 sales reps over the next two years,” said Goldstein. The company has about 55 security salespeople now, with an additional 12 in Guardian's medical division.

“We're going to also throw a heavy emphasis in the recruiting of the areas we just dabble in: in the northern Michigan and western Michigan areas, as well as Ohio,” said Goldstein.

“We have offices in Cincinnati, Cleveland and Toledo, and we've really not given them the attention or the growth opportunity that we think [they have]. We're going to emphasize those offices while we're heavily trying to pursue acquisitions in the state of Ohio,” he continued.

“We are still Guardian Alarm, still the same team,” said Goldstein. The company currently has four offices across Michigan and Ohio. Guardian's account base is “north of 100,000 customers,” according to Goldstein, and about 55 percent commercial. It operates its own UL-listed monitoring center.

Prior to the acquisition, Guardian Alarm was family owned and operated since it was founded in 1930 by Milton Pierce.