Supreme acquires CAT

UNION, N.J.--Supreme Security Systems hopes to expand its relationships with high-end homebuilders as the result of a July 24 merger agreement with CAT Alarm Systems. Supreme, which has more than 10,000 residential and commercial accounts, is based here; until the merger, CAT Alarm Systems was based in Matawan, N.J. Irwin Dunsky, owner of CAT, has joined Supreme Security's sales department. "We've known each other for 25 years and been friendly competitors," said Bob Bitton, chief executive officer of Supreme Security. "Irwin approached me ... he wasn't ready to throw in the whole towel, but he wanted to get rid of the tough part, the day-to-day service and installations headaches. Now he can work on the part he loves to do the most: sales. And we get to do the rest," he said. Supreme has assumed the monitoring and servicing of 1,000 new accounts, about 85 percent residential, as part of the deal; full terms were not released. "One nice thing about his business is that a lot of the residential accounts are high-end. None of it is mass market, zero-down type of stuff," Bitton said. "We like that clientele because it has a reasonably low attrition rate." Dunsky also worked with a "number of high end residential builders and we very much expect to maintain relationships with those builders," he said. Bitton told Security Systems News in December that he was on the acquisition trail (Search "Supreme Security seeks more N.J. acquisitions in www.securitysystemsnews.com) At that time, Bitton said it was important that acquisitions fall within his footprint (New Jersey, with a little spill over into New York and Pennsylvania) and that a company's accounts must not be "mass marketing-type accounts." "We are continuing to look for the right acquisitions," he said.