Randy Andrews, CEO of Andrews International, says the purchase of Vance's operations from Garda World Security gives his company presence in the U.S. government guard services space as well as Mexico.

Los Angeles, Calif. -- In a move that now makes them the largest privately-held, American-owned full-service security provider in the county, Andrews International has announced their plans to acquire the U.S. and Mexico guarding operations of Garda World Security Corporation. The acquired assets include the uniformed security operations, along with strike security/asset protection and U.S. consulting and investigation divisions.

The price of the acquisition was around $44.25 million according to a statement issued by Garda.

One of the overriding factors in the acquisition was the chance for Andrews to establish a footprint in the government vertical market that comes with the Vance side of the acquisition. Garda World acquired Vance International from SPX Corporation back in November of 2005.

Headquartered in Centerville, Va., Garda/Vance brings to the table more than 20 years of global investigative expertise and government security consulting. Vance was among the pioneers in bringing comprehensive risk management to the C-level suite and making it a board-level issue.

"We are very unique as far as our full service capabilities go and this acquisition puts us among the leaders in this space," says chairman and CEO Randy Andrews, who with help from its leading investment partner, Audax Group, closed the transaction on June 2. This will add 14 offices and operations across the U.S. and abroad to Andrews' existing infrastructure.

"The government vertical was a big factor for us as well in pulling this deal together. We know Vance very well and we look to build even further on the full-service business model that has worked for them. We are very similar in our philosophies," Andrews admits. "There are some incredible opportunities to be had in the growing government market, plus the Mexican side of the business really has some very strong growth potential."

Andrews said that despite many recent reports of kidnappings in Mexico, the company is not dissuaded.