Allied Universal acquires Securadyne Systems to form 'Allied Universal Technology Services'

Allied Universal, which has firmly established itself as the largest provider of guard services in North America, will now also become one of top security systems integration firms in the U.S., as the company announced on Monday that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Securadyne Systems. Financial terms of the deal, which is expected to close on April 15, were not disclosed.

Founded in 2011, Securadyne has 17 U.S. branch locations, with its headquarters in Dallas. The company, which boasts revenues in excess of $73 million and employees more than 300 people, has also consistently been among the fastest growing systems integrators in North America, ranking in the top 10 of Security Business magazine’s annual Fast50 Awards multiple times.

In an interview with SecurityInfoWatch.com on Monday, Steve Jones, CEO of Allied Universal, explained that Allied’s reach from a systems integration perspective was significantly limited geographically and that bringing Securadyne into the fold will help give them the scale necessary to grow the business nationwide. 

“We really lacked the platform to scale the business,” Jones says. “Securadyne not only gives us that platform to be able to really scale the business nationally with our customer base, but also really invest in security and technology companies. This has been a space that we have talked about a lot. We have made some smaller acquisitions over the years, but we were looking to make a big one and make a big splash.” 

Allied Universal intends to leverage Securadyne Systems as the technology service platform upon which they will build out their global systems integration capabilities. The tech platform will be rebranded as “Allied Universal Technology Services” and will be headquartered in Dallas.

The full Securadyne team will subsequently become part of Allied Universal Technology Services once the deal is finalized. Securadyne CEO Carey Boethel will become President of the combined enterprises under the direction of Jones. Ty Richmond, who formally oversaw Allied Universal Security Systems, will now be responsible for Risk Advisory and Consulting Services and Allied Universal’s international business.

Having known Boethel for nearly 20 years, Jones says he knew that that the two companies would be a great fit for one another both culturally and in how they both approach the market. “Culturally, we are very aligned on security solutions in customer locations. I felt the company he had built and his leadership team would just fit in perfectly with our organization,” Jones says. “It really starts with valuing customer relationships at the highest levels…and also in the value they place on their people. We have looked at lots of other companies that we thought would be (acquisition) opportunities for us, but none of them seemed to be as good of a fit as Securadyne was.”

Boethel echoes Jones’ sentiments and adds that Allied Universal’s vision for how manned guarding and technology can and should coexist was another factor in their decision to join forces. “As we began talking about that concept, the organization – with its size, scale, breadth and existing customer relationships – is strongly positioned to executive on that value proposition,” he says.   

With the national reach of Allied Universal combined with technology expertise that Securadyne brings to the table, Boethel says the company is well-positioned to take advantage of current market trends. “Allied Universal’s presence in the U.S. is going to be a big enabler as we go about executing our strategy,” Boethel says. “Securadyne is kind of a super-regional company, and we will expand our footprint as a result of this combination, and it will also give us the means to invest further in that.

“The desire on the part of Steve and his leadership team to add these services to their overall portfolio of solutions, as well as the market’s desire and reception to this idea of bundling and creating value in different ways were all compelling to us,” Boethel adds.

The Securadyne acquisition is the latest in a string of M&A deals that has seen Allied Universal grow into one of the industry’s largest providers of security services. Beginning with the merger of AlliedBarton and Universal Services of America in May 2016, the company has gone on to acquire a number of other security firms in recent years, including:

• Apollo International (2016);
• FJC Security Services (2016);
• ALERT Protective Services (2017);
• Covenant Security Services (2017);
• Yale Enforcement (2017); and
• U.S. Security Associates (2018).

Once the acquisition is finalized, Allied Universal Technology Services will become the fourth-largest security integrator in the U.S., with more than 500 employees and 27 locations across the country.

Though consolidation has been on the upswing among systems integration firms recently, Boethel says that just partnering with or becoming part of a larger organization does not automatically translate to success.

“I’m not sure that being a part of a bigger organization in and of itself is all that significant – but being a part of a bigger organization that has a clear vision and strategy that makes sense for the end-user and is executable, that starts to be really exciting,” Boethel explains. “Consolidation will continue – it has always been there, and yes, over the past couple of years it has been accelerated somewhat, but this is still a highly fragmented industry, and that is always going to be the case.

“Consolidation is healthy, but I would say consolidation with purpose is what is most important,” Boethel adds. “This isn’t just about scale for us but real growth synergies and creating incremental value for the end-user.”  

Jones says Allied will continue to be focused on growing its systems integration capabilities and that further M&A could be a possibility. “You are going to see this as a big part of our future goals, and Carey and his team – along with our corporate business development team – are going to be active in this space,” he says. “We are just getting started, and there is a lot more to come.”       

About the Author: 

Joel Griffin is the Editor of SecurityInfoWatch.com and a veteran security journalist. You can reach him at [email protected].