Per Mar buys A-1 Alarm Company

l-r, Per Mar Vice President Brad Tolliver, Per Mar Controller Ronda Meyer, Jim Poorbaugh, Helen Kaeser and Dee Ann Stover of A-1 Alarm Company, following the sale.

Per Mar Security announced last week that they have purchased Cedar Rapids, Iowa, based A-1 Alarm Company.

A-1, which was owned and operated by Jim Poorbaugh, installs burglar and fire alarm systems, as well as access controls and closed-circuit television systems.

"We specialize in those four areas and that's exactly what (A-1) specialized in, so it was a very good fit for us," said Blake Finch, vice president of support services for Per Mar.

According to Finch, the acquisition adds nearly 1,000 customers to company, which includes 750 monitored accounts and about 250 other various security service accounts.

Finch estimated that about 95 percent of A-1's client's base was located in and around the Cedar Rapids area. About 60 percent of A-1's client's were in the commercial sector, while the other 40 percent were residential, Finch said.

Per Mar monitors more than 40,000 accounts in the Midwest and has 22 branch offices located throughout the region.