Deerfield Beach-based Devcon International's fledgling security business has gotten a boost with a successful bid for cable giant Adelphia Communication's security services operation.
The approximately $42.8 million deal, announced Monday, adds more than 57,000 customers to Devcon Security Services's existing base of about 5,000 customers.
The transaction requires the approval of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York. It's scheduled to close on Feb. 28.
The acquisition marks Devcon's first significant acquisition since entering the security service business nearly six months ago in the year 2004.
It's part of Devcon's ''strategy of becoming a large southeast regional provider of security services,'' said Steven J. Ruzika, president of Devcon and Devcon Security.
Adelphia's Starpoint Limited Partnership generates about $14.4 million in annual revenue. The purchase price is about 35 times the operation's recurring monthly revenue, which is in line with current industry multiples. Ruzika declined to comment on the business' bottom line.
''It's got a very good presence in Florida's east coast from Palm Beach to Miami, and has got a very good presence in both Tampa and Naples,'' Ruzika said. Starpoint also operates a monitoring center in Naples.
Starpoint was the 19th-largest electronic security-services business in the United States in a ranking last year by Security Dealer Magazine, according to Ruzika.
About 50 of Starpoint's 180 employees work in South Florida. Devcon Security employs 15 to 20 people.
A group led by Richard C. Rochon, the former head of billionaire H. Wayne Huizenga's investment firm, invested $18 million in Devcon in August for it to enter the security services business. Devcon operates a construction and materials business in the eastern Caribbean.
Rochon's group plans to assist Devcon in raising additional capital from institutional investors.
Adelphia is auctioning some of its assets under the supervision of the New York bankruptcy court. It filed for bankruptcy in 2002.
