United Central Control Inc. (UCC), a San Antonio-based company purchased the wholesale monitored accounts of Red Hawk Monitoring LLC, formerly Counterforce USA, and now a wholly owned subsidiary of Red Hawk Fire & Security LLC, out of Houston.
Red Hawk’s central monitoring station general manager Efrain Saenz commented, “It made sense to move the monitoring of these accounts to allow us to focus 100 percent on building Red Hawk’s core business.”
Red Hawk Fire & Security was formed in April 2012 after operating as Chubb Fire and Security, a division of United Technologies Corporation (UTC). Since then, Red Hawk has developed into an independent national player in the fire, life safety and security services business. “The decision to sell its third-party monitored accounts to UCC is part of Red Hawk’s long-range plan to concentrate solely on growing its direct district customer base and providing premier services to our commercial customers, including monitoring our accounts from the UL and CSAA Five Diamond Certified Red Hawk Monitoring Center,” Saenz said.
The transaction adds approximately 153 new alarm dealers and just over 20,000 accounts to UCC’s portfolio. The mix is roughly 60 percent residential, 40 percent commercial which is right in line with UCC’s existing portfolio, according to the company. “We want to help these dealers grow and present to them a new level of service that they weren’t privy to before. We hope to raise their RMR base, and in return raise our RMR base,” said Mark Matlock, vice president of marketing and sales.
“The Red Hawk wholesale acquisition increased our monitored account base by roughly 9 percent and it was the perfect acquisition for UCC,” UCC President Teresa Gonzalez stated. “The majority of the business is right in our backyard in Houston, and will integrate nicely with our existing operations in San Antonio.”
UCC, which started in 1982, estimates that roughly 60 percent of the total accounts, or approximately 12,000 accounts, are in the Houston area, of those accounts, roughly half are listed in the Houston-proper area. Those accounts will go into UCC’s ASAP to PSAP program. “Houston is where UCC has the highest ASAP to PSAP ratio with the Houston police department, with this acquisition, so we will add roughly 6,000 accounts to the ASAP to PSAP platform,” Matlock said. “Now that we are on the SGS Stages platform, the stage is set for UCC to provide a new set of tools and features to these dealers,” Gonzalez added.
With the acquisition, UCC hit a new milestone by reaching more than 800 dealer customers across the nation. UCC’s CEO Don Munford observed, “It wasn’t long ago that we were excited about hitting one hundred dealer customers. Hitting 800 is major accomplishment, and gives me great pride in our team for always delivering excellent service which is the hallmark of the company.”
The acquisition, according to Ron Bowden, director of dealer development at UCC, who was instrumental if in finalizing the deal with Red Hawk, is UCC’s largest and most significant to date, and “good fit” due to the similarities in the two companies.
“If you look at Red Hawk, the nix of its business is approximately 60 percent residential and 40 percent businesses, so it’s very close to our company’s ratios,” Bowden reported. The two companies also share a special connection to the Lone Star state. “A good portion of Red Hawk’s dealer base is in Texas, with a very large base in Houston. This is where we have the greatest concentration, as well,” Bowden said. “This was a friendly acquisition and an easy one because we have known them for many years, and we share a similar business philosophy.”
But UCC is not only thinking about Texas. “It is our business plan to expand our central station redundancy capabilities out of state,” added Gonzales. “As a national company, we continue to look for other acquisition opportunities around the country that may be a good fit for UCC. Along with these new dealer relationships, we are also expanding the group of professionals at TEAMUCC who share in our ideals of providing exceptional service.”
Red Hawk Saenzadded, “We are confident the accounts are in good hands with UCC. In addition to providing a dedicated dealer business development program, they are also UL listed and CSAA Five Diamond Certified. They have state of the art technology and we also have an excellent working relationship with UCC.”
The transition will take 90 to 120 days and the Red Hawk dealers have been notified. Both parties agreed that the financial details of the acquisition should remain undisclosed.
