Cooper Wheelock Acquires MadahCom

Cooper Industries, the parent company of Cooper Wheelock, announced this week that it has acquired MadahCom Inc. The purchase price was $43 million.

MadahCom, a Florida company, manufactures emergency control and mass notification systems. The company's products are wireless, and the company delivers hardware, software and installation solutions for the products, which are mainly targeted to military, government and industrial applications

A statement released from Cooper Industries indicated that MadahCom, which saw 2006 sales of $22 million, will be a division within Cooper Wheelock's notification systems business unit. MadahCom was previously a privately-held company. Cooper is traded publicly on the New York Stock Exchange under the CBE symbol.

Cooper Industries acquired Wheelock Inc. in 2006, changing the company name to Cooper Wheelock in its fire and life safety notification business. The acquisition of MadahCom, further expands Cooper Wheelock's presence in life safety, which had primarily been focused on audio notification devices and strobes used in fire alarm systems.

Cooper Industries CEO Kirk Hachigian said the acquisition was well timed with high growth in the mass notification systems market, and served as a natural fit for the company.

"Delivering the right message to the right people at the right time is paramount for evacuation and security," added Hachigian.

MadahCom's key products are WAVES (Wireless Audio Visual Emergency System) and TACWAVES (Tactical WAVES). The WAVES system not only is designed for audio notification, but integrates with SMS notifications, desktop alerts and automated dial-out messages via the telephones. It has been adopted heavily by military bases. The TACWAVES offers similar functionality, but is designed to be a portable system.