LAS VEGAS—Six acquisitions in six months. A rebranding that has employees excited. There’s lots going on in the world of Everon, formerly ADT Commercial. The wave of M&A activity began in December with the acquisition of Newtech Systems, followed by Apex Integrated Security Solutions and Portland Safe in January, Riverside Integrated Systems and Customized Service Concepts in early February, and most recently, DIGIOP in March. Security Systems News (SSN) caught up with Everon CEO Dan Bresingham and VP of M&A Michael Kennedy at ISC West 2024 to discuss what’s behind the company’s surge in M&A activity and how employees have embraced the rebranding. Adding to the basket Bresingham highlighted the variety of companies that Everon has acquired, including DIGIOP, a software development company, and Customized Service Concepts, a regional banking security integrator. “When we look for an integrator, it's often looking to expand into new geography or can they just help us expand our capabilities in an existing area,” he said. “With the acquisition of DIGIOP, the premise was, can we take all this data we get from video, access control and fire and kind of give it back to the customer? We're still trying to figure out what it means, but the customers are all excited because the use cases are almost endless.” Bresingham noted that having Kennedy, a former company owner, in charge of acquisitions has helped speed up Everon’s M&A activity in the past half-year. “Michael is a former owner of one of our previous acquisitions and is just a great liaison when talking to these companies,” Bresingham said. “And we have a pretty good track record finding great companies and letting them do what they do best.” Kennedy cited culture as a critical factor when he scouts companies. “First off, to me it's all about the culture,” he stated. “When we meet the potential owner, do they fit our model? Do they fit our culture? We find an integrator that has a good reputation, a good leadership team that typically wants to stay around in a geography that we like, but also has a culture of taking care of their people. It's just how we built our business.” Looking ahead, Bresingham noted potential geographical areas and verticals that Everon is exploring for expansion. “We're looking heavy into Canada and overseas,” he said. “Those are probably areas that we're going to explore. We’d love it if we found some version of a video monitoring company to add to our basket. We're always looking at ancillary stuff. But time will tell. You never know what’s up for sale.” Getting better every day Since the October sale to private equity firm GTCR for an estimated $1.6 billion and the subsequent rebranding, Bresingham explained how Everon has evolved both from an employee standpoint and a company standpoint. “The momentum is real,” he proudly stated. “The employees are very excited, off the charts excited. People love the name. Everon, as much as it doesn’t immediately connotate security, it’s all about everything we do to protect people’s lives and property, how we’re always on, always there and looking to get better every day. That's what I would say - we're getting better every day.”
