Vanderbilt Industries, a global leader providing state-of-the-art security systems, has announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire Siemens’ Security Products business, part of the Siemens’ Building Technologies Division. The business will be renamed Vanderbilt International. Security industry veteran Joseph J. Grillo will be Managing Director, working from the new operational headquarters in Germany.
The acquisition will significantly boost Vanderbilt’s market position in the European security systems market through a wider and more comprehensive range of products and solutions and Siemens’ Security Products (SP) complements existing Vanderbilt business portfolio as a leading supplier with widely recognised brands and long-term relationships with pre-eminent customers.
Joseph Grillo stated that this transaction will considerably expand Vanderbilt’s presence in the security industry by broadening the company’s competitive position in a highly fragmented market with great growth potential.
“The acquisition of Siemens’ Security Products, which fits our corporate strategy perfectly, matches Vanderbilt’s solid foundation and strong legacy built from nearly three decades in the security industry,” said Joseph Grillo.
“Vanderbilt saw an opportunity to expand its product offering and geographic market coverage. The addition of SP represents significant value potential with its established installed base of customers and loyal resellers. The market trend is for integrated security management systems and more open solutions from trusted suppliers. SP clearly provides a vehicle to offer these solutions to a broader customer base,” Grillo added.
Siemens’ SP consists of products in the access control, intrusion alarm, and video surveillance categories, which complement Vanderbilt Industries’ fully integrated product offerings. The acquisition includes such well-known and established brands as Bewator and Cotag in the access control segment and Alarmcom and Europlex in the intrusion alarm space.
Financial details of the transaction were not released. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions. The closing of the transaction is expected to occur by the end of the first quarter of 2015.
About Joseph Grillo
Joseph Grillo is a 30-year veteran of the electronic security and identification industries with a track record of successfully growing, restructuring and acquiring businesses.
Joe began his career in the 1980s working at security and fire alarm manufacturing and systems integration companies, including Kidde Automated Systems, NCS and Security Specialists.
In 1993, Joe was appointed National Sales Manager for HID Corporation. He participated in the management buyout of HID from Hughes Aircraft/General Motors in 1995. From 1995 to 2001, Joe became Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing, COO and eventually President as HID grew from a $15M card and reader company to the dominant $100M industry leader. He successfully led the effort to sell the company to Assa Abloy, AB in 2001.
At Assa Abloy, Joe led the Identification Technology Group and completed more than a dozen acquisitions, primarily in Europe. In 2005, he was promoted to Executive Vice President of the parent company and appointed as President of its global technology division, including HID, Hospitality and Besam Automatic Doors. In that role, he successfully managed the $700M division with 3,000 employees in 29 countries.
Joe Grillo retired from Assa Abloy in 2007. In 2008, he was recruited by the Board of Directors to run, restructure and eventually sell the assets of Digital Angel Corporation.
In 2012, Joe and his former colleague Will West formed ACRE, LLC as a platform to initiate acquisitions in the electronic security industry, with a special focus on access control. They successfully acquired the Schlage SMS business from Ingersoll Rand in September 2012 and then completed the acquisition of Mercury Security in May 2013.
Joe graduated from University of Connecticut with a Bachelor’s Degree in Finance. He served as President and Board Member of the Security Industry Association (SIA) from 1998-2007.
About Vanderbilt
Vanderbilt Industries, a subsidiary of ACRE LLC, which acquired the company from Ingersoll Rand in 2012, is a global leader in creating state-of-the-art security systems. Vanderbilt’s innovative approach to access control technology – from design, manufacturing, through to distribution, makes environments safe, secure and easy to maintain. Vanderbilt’s products range from single-user systems so simple that they can be installed in one day to highly customized applications that fit the unique requirements of leading multi-national corporations. Our product line includes the lite blue™, bright blue® and SMS access control systems, as well as enterprise video solutions. To learn more, please visit www.vanderbiltindustries.com and follow us on Twitter @VanderbiltInd.
