The recent sale of Guardian Alarm in Southfield to two U.S.-based investment firms will assist the company with adding new products and technologies, expand its customer base and employment levels, launch a new marketing campaign later this year, and assist in acquiring other security firms.
“Right now, we’re looking at two growth opportunities in Michigan and Ohio which if consummated will grow our reach and our business,” says Jennifer Henderson, director of corporate communications and general counsel at Guardian Alarm, which was founded in 1930 by Milton Pierce.
“The sale of the company is bringing a lot of opportunities our way. We plan to expand our sales team and add to our customer base in Michigan and Ohio, and we will grow by possible acquisitions based on the size of the companies we are looking at. We also will have better buying power, and we continue to work on R&D with some of the companies we are aligned with like Honeywell and GE.”
Henderson added that Guardian Alarm, which has 1,100 employees, will freshen up its logo, launch a new marketing campaign later this year, and add additional customer apps. Roughly 50 percent of the company’s annual revenue comes from serving business and residential customers with alarm services, while medical monitoring and a guard division each generate around 25 percent of annual sales.
“We worked on the (acquisition) for a little less than a year, and it was driven in part by the passing last year of Douglas Pierce, who along with his brother, Richard Pierce, took the company over from their father,” Henderson says. “The two private equity firms that came in were looking at a strong community-based company to invest in.”
Boulevard, an investment bank in Royal Oak managed by founding partners Marco Eadie and Mac Gerlach, advised Guardian Alarm on the sale to the two investment firms — Certares and Vanwall Holdings. The deal closed in March.
