GE

UTC announced today that they will buy GE Security for $1.8 billion. The full details have not yet been disclosed but this looks to be an exit price based on sales revenue of around unity. This seems like a good buy particularly considering that it cost GE Security at least $2 billion to assemble the […]

The third quarter results of the major security players reported this month would suggest that the market for electronic security products and systems has not yet bottomed out. The decline in security sales, where reported, was around 15% compared with the same period last year. As also noted last month it is evident that the […]

Despite the fact that in September we identified 10 acquisition / merger transactions (double the number in the same month last year), the consolidation process has dramatically slowed down this year, when measured by value. This is hardly surprising given the liquidity crisis and the financial melt-down over the last two years, which has dislocated […]

There is no further factual news on the sale of GE Fire & Security since Bloomberg News announcement last month that GE Security had hired J P Morgan Chase to find a buyer. So the speculation continues and the list of potential suitors grows. But unfortunately GE, like all major corporates, is obliged to continue […]

Back in April this year we placed GE Fire & Security on our list of the top 50 potential acquisition prospects for 2009. This followed the decision that month for the sale of 81 percent of its Homeland Protection business to Safran, a French company known mainly in the security industry for its Sagem Securite […]

July and August are traditionally slow months for acquisition activity. We saw the completion of 8 deals, the same number as realised in 2008. However with the exception of Google’s purchase of ON2 Technologies, at just over $100m, none of the other 8 deals cost more than $20m, whilst in 2008 the value of deals […]

Whilst global mergers and acquisitions have declined rapidly in the first quarter of the year, deals in the physical security industry have held up relatively well. Comparing the last quarter of 2008 with the first quarter of 2009, activity measured by numbers of deals has remained steady, whilst demand in sales of security equipment has […]

There are two major forces that have over the last 5 years brought about a reshaping of the structure of the Security Industry. The first is a rapid consolidation process that is particularly rife when a business is young, immature and growing fast. The second is a heady cocktail of converging technologies brought in from […]