Select Security to acquire AlarmForce's US subscribers

LANCASTER, Pa.—Select Security, a super-regional alarm company based here, on June 14 entered into an agreement to buy the U.S. subscriber base of AlarmForce, a Toronto-based company, which will maintain its Canadian business.

Select Security will gain about 28,000 accounts, bringing the company's total to nearly 60,000. The deal is expected to close on or around June 23. AlarmForce announced that the total consideration was $11.6 million.

"It's the largest acquisition that Select has done in our 13 year history," Steve Firestone, Select's president, told Security Systems News. The company's RMR will rise from about $1.2 million to nearly $2 million, he added.

The company plans to add on 40 new employees following the deal, according to Firestone, 20 of which are field operations employees joining from AlarmForce.

"We were presented with the opportunity about 60 days ago and we looked at it and came to the conclusion that it was something that we wanted to pursue," Firestone said.

The company's overall growth strategy is to enter new markets through strategic acquisitions, according to Firestone. "This one does just that," he said.

Firestone said that the company both increases its presence in current markets—Ohio, North Carolina and Kentucky, among others—but also extends the company's footprint into two new geographies: Florida and Georgia. "Both of those markets are attractive to us," Firestone said.

Firestone noted that by focusing on “automation systems, consistent processes and procedures across our entire branch network, the right talent in our organization … the infrastructure of our business has been built to support an organization three times to four times our size." Building this infrastructure has been an initiative over the past four to five years, he said.

Another benefit that comes from the acquisition is “accelerated career opportunities for the people that have been working very hard for us over the years,” he said.