A trust whose main business has been the rental of water heaters has purchased Canadian alarm monitoring firm Protectron Holdings Inc. Protectron, based in Montreal, is the largest privately held alarm monitoring and installation company in Canada with more than 176,000 residential, commercial and other accounts. UE Waterheater Income Fund paid $135 million Canadian, or approximately $111 million in U.S. currency, to purchase Protectron through its Union Energy LP subsidiary.
Union Energy specializes in the rental and service of water heaters, as well as HVAC equipment, and says it has more than one million customers. The company’s president and CEO, Roger Rossi, sees the Protectron acquisition as an expansion of options for its customers.
“We’re expanding our already large base of customers, who are increasingly looking to us for additional products and services,” Rossi said in a statement.
Protectron, in business since 1988, has annual revenue of $64 million with central stations in Montreal, Quebec City, Ottawa and Vancouver. Protectron President and CEO Daniel Demers said in a statement that the monitoring firm is well suited to become a part of the UE Waterheater Income Fund.
“It is a solid, stable business with growth opportunities in both residential and commercial sectors, an experienced management team and a strong focus on customer service supported by an internal sales and service team,” Demers said.
