AvantGuard Monitoring Centers, Ogden, Utah, announced its sister company, Freeus LLC, acquired substantially all of the personal emergency response systems (PERS) assets of Securus Inc.

Cary, N.C.-based Securus will retain its GPS tracking business. “Securus has been a valuable wholesale monitoring customer for AvantGuard Monitoring,” said Josh Garner, president and CEO of AvantGuard. “It has been exciting to watch their exponential growth due to their innovative Mobile PERS products, eResponder and eCare+Voice. We are excited about the PERS growth opportunities that we can bring our dealers by combining the two businesses,” he added.

Post-closing, Freeus anticipated the release of new product offerings, including the next generation 3G version of eResponder, Securus’ flagship product. Freeus’ new website will be live shortly, at www.freeus.com.

“AvantGuard will continue to monitor all major PERS product lines” said Garner. “Freeus and AvantGuard will be run as two separate companies. While we expect advantages due to the tighter integration between Freeus and AvantGuard, Freeus will have to compete for dealers’ business like any other provider.”

Tom Collopy, president of Securus, who will offer his consulting services on an ongoing basis to Freeus, said, “We felt it made sense for our customers to link our PERS offerings more closely with a central station. AvantGuard has been our primary central station and an outstanding partner.”

 The Edmonds Group, LLC, St. Louis, acted as exclusive advisor to Securus for the transaction. Financial details were not released. “The combination of the Securus’ PERS offering with AvantGuard’s world-class monitoring will offer a compelling solution for dealers,” said Henry Edmonds, president of The Edmonds Group.