BCE Finalizes Purchase of AlarmForce to Boost Smart Home Strategy
BCE acquired all of the approximately 11.4 million common shares of AlarmForce for $182 million, paid in a combination of cash and BCE common shares.
Canadian telecom giant BCE completed its all-cash offer to acquire the Canadian subscriber base of AlarmForce.
MONTRÉAL — Canadian telecom giant BCE (NYSE: BCE; TSX: BCE) announced today the completion of its acquisition of AlarmForce Industries (OTCPK: ARFCF), a leading provider of home security and monitoring services in Canada.
BCE currently provides residential and business customers in Atlantic Canada and Manitoba with security and monitoring services from Bell Aliant NextGen Home Security and AAA Security, a Bell MTS company. The telecom says combining the assets and experience of AlarmForce with its own strength in networks, customer service and distribution will enable it to quickly expand into the connected home sector in Ontario and Québec.
The acquisition, first reported in November, is part of BCE’s strategic expansion in the fast-growing connected home marketplace.
“Bell welcomes AlarmForce as we build on our position as Canada’s most trusted name in residential communications with an accelerated focus on Connected Home technology and services,” says Rizwan Jamal, president of Bell Residential and Small Business. “Building on our leadership and scale in broadband networks and residential services distribution, installation and customer services, Bell looks forward to delivering new and innovative smart home solutions to residential customers throughout Ontario, Québec, the Atlantic region and Manitoba.”
AlarmForce currently serves more than 100,000 subscribers across the Canada with intrusion, smoke, flood and carbon monoxide (CO) detection services; automation services including lighting, climate and lock control systems; and in-home and mobile medical alert systems.
AlarmForce CEO Graham Badun has agreed to stay on as a special advisor to Bell for six months to support the business transition and integration, according to the announcement.
Bell has agreed to sell AlarmForce’s approximately 39,000 customer accounts in British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan to TELUS Corp. for approximately $66.5 million, an amount per subscriber equivalent to that paid by Bell, effective today.
BCE acquired all of the approximately 11.4 million common shares of AlarmForce for $182 million, paid in a combination of cash and BCE common shares. BCE funded the approximate $181 million cash component with available liquidity, and issued 22,531 BCE common shares to fund the equity component.
Imperial Capital and National Bank Financial served as financial advisors for AlarmForce and issued fairness opinions on the transaction.
In June, AlarmForce sold its U.S.-based subscriber accounts to Select Security for $11.6 million (approximately $15.3 million CAD). The transaction added about 28,000 customers to Select Security’s ranks.
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