APX, Provo, Utah, and Criticom Monitoring Services (CMS), Longwood, Fla., announced a non-monetary deal giving APX operating control of CMS’s central station in St. Paul, Minn. The transaction opens up new opportunities to both companies. For APX, assuming operating control of the central station that has monitored its accounts since 2005 is a “milestone” towards becoming a full service security company.
“APX has taken over operating control and the lease of the Criticom Monitoring Services (CMS) central station in St. Paul,” Stuart Dean, APX Alarm’s director of corporate communications, confirmed. “We have also already begun to transition the 83 CMS employees currently at the facility over to APX and will manage the monitoring center moving forward. We view this as a significant milestone in our growth as a leader in the residential security industry. APX now becomes one of a handful of nationwide, full-service residential security companies.”
As part of the deal, CMS will continue to provide IT support and backup services to APX. That includes providing redundant services through CMS’s larger monitoring centers in New Jersey, California and Florida. That support service is a new offering CMS is exploring making available to other companies
as well.
“We are excited about providing this new IT back-up and disaster recovery service,” Tony Wilson, CMS president, said. “There are a lot of central stations that don’t have a good disaster recovery plan for whatever reason. We’ve invested a great deal in our technology and infrastructure, including upgrading to MASterMind and creating a unique Command Center that efficiently provides coordination between our national network of centers. We’ve spent two years and invested a lot of money getting our services to this point. We’re very excited about the level of service we have to offer.”
Wilson stated the deal made sense for both parties. “APX, a customer since late 2005, has been hugely successful in adding customers. They’ve gotten to the size that it makes strategic sense to do their own monitoring. They have been monitored out of the St. Paul facility since the beginning, and with this transaction, they get to begin their own monitoring and they gain the local talent in the St. Paul facility. We will provide APX with IT and disaster recovery support. With this transaction, they are not starting from scratch and we do not lose a large company all at once as we explore this new service offering.”
Roughly 40,000 non-APX customers that are currently monitored by CMS at the St. Paul facility will be transitioned to one of the larger CMS central stations.
In addition to the CMS deal, APX also completed a $440 million credit facility led by Goldman Sachs Specialty Lending Group.
“As a company, we are squarely focused on growing our subscriber base and providing world-class support and service our customers have come to expect,” Dean said. “APX is a stronger, more broadly based company than ever before, with increased capability to expand our business objectives.”
