RUNNEMEDE, N.J. — Access control solutions provider Sielox LLC announced today it has been acquired through a management buyout with additional funding provided by private investment group HGW Acquisition Co. LLC. As part of the agreement, Sielox LLC will purchase the rights to its name and also the name of parent company Sielox Inc.
Sielox LLC’s new investors include Richard Hoel and a group of other “established security technology investors with a deep understanding of business management, growth strategies and the access control marketplace,” according to a company statement.
The cash portion of the transaction, which closed on Dec. 31, 2010, comprised $2.55 million, plus the assumption of certain liabilities valued at $113,000, according to the company. Additionally, Sielox LLC has committed to purchasing $5 million in Costar Video Products through its business partner channel over a three-year period as part of the deal. The two companies were merged in 2007.
The company will continue to operate out of its Runnemede, N.J., headquarters with President and CEO Karen Evans leading the team. Prior to the acquisition, 17-year Sielox veteran Evans served as regional sales manager of Checkpoint Systems Inc. before serving as president and general manager of Sielox LLC. From 1986 to 2006, Sielox was a division of Checkpoint Systems.
All employees are expected to keep their current positions. The financial backing of the deal is expected to expand the sales and R&D teams, as well as product lines, Evans tells SSI.
Additionally, Sielox is set to release an upgrade to its Pinnacle access control software in the coming days. Evans maintains the company will not change its go-to market strategy and plans to release new hardware products later this year.
“We’re going to continue to sell through our current channels,” she says. “We’ll look at developing and finding new business partners and markets where we have not been really strong in the past.”
Norman Diegnan of security public relations firm Norman Diegnan and Associates, which represents Sielox, tells SSI he believes the acquisition shows promise for the security industry in 2011.
“Since the recession, there have been a lot of cutbacks in the industry in general,” he says. “[Investment firms] believe that with the recession over and 2011 here, the market is so much better than it was in 2008. They believe the vitality of the market is going to be so much better in the next couple of years.”
