Red Hawk makes first acquisition

BOCA RATON, Fla.—In its first acquisition since it became an independent company in 2012, Red Hawk Fire & Security today announced the acquisition of Systems Sales Corporation.

Red Hawk Fire & Security, is the former commercial security and fire installation arm of UTC. It became independent in 2012 when it was acquired by Comvest Partners. Based here, Red Hawk is a national systems integrator of fire, access, video and security products. With 1,200 employees, Red Hawk has more than 50,000 customer sites in vertical markets such as financial services, retail, education, health care and manufacturing.

Red Hawk CEO Michael McWilliams told Security Systems News that Red Hawk has been busy building a platform for growth, investing in sales reps and working on its national accounts business. The Systems Sales Corp. may be its first acquisition, but “it's not the first acquisition we've looked at,” he said. McWilliams expects to complete two more deals this year.

In business since 1981, Systems Sales specializes in the design and maintenance of commercial fire alarm, nurse call, security, sound and clock systems. The deal brings Red Hawk density, more capabilities in New Jersey, Philadelphia and Delaware, and "added value in fire and integrated security.” It also brings 51 skilled employees, McWilliams said. McWilliams declined to release financial terms of the deal.

McWilliams became COO of Red Hawk in October of 2014, president in 2015 and was named CEO earlier this year. Red Hawk does about $240 million in business annually. About half of its revenue comes from services, he said.

In a prepared statement, Systems Sales Corporation president John Ventrella said the deal “will open the way for us to increase in scale by leveraging Red Hawk's resources and reach as the highly trained and experienced Systems Sales employees work in tandem with Red Hawk teams." Ventrella founded Systems Sales in 1981. He is a past president of the Automatic Fire Alarm Association of New Jersey and served on the board of directors of the National AFAA.

Systems Sales Corporation has been recognized numerous times with the Edwards System Technology Distributor of the Year Award.