Photo from sonitrol.com

Sonitrol will be sold to The Stanley Works for approximately $275 million. The company provides full-service security systems and fire detection, but is perhaps best known for its ability to "listen in" and verify suspected break-ins.

The Stanley Works has announced plans to acquire all of the shares of Sonitrol Corporation, a U.S.-based alarm dealer and monitoring company. The purchase price for Sonitrol is approximately $275 million, roughly equivalent to 10 times EBITDA.

Sonitrol has made a name for itself by providing alarm systems and audio listening monitoring for its clients. The company's systems typically works by having traditional intrusion sensors placed in the business or home along with strategically placed microphones. When a sensor is triggered, the Sonitrol monitoring staff use the microphones to listen in for sounds of apparent intruders in the business, allowing them to audibly verify an alarm call.

Sonitrol will report into Stanley's Convergent Security Solutions business. Both Tony Byerly, COO, and Brett Bontrager, president, of Stanley CSS said the acquisition was a good fit Stanley.

"I think it's a real opportunity because it adds presence in markets we’re already in," said Bontrager. "There's an ability to create additional relationships with franchises. Our intention is to sit down with the franchisees and put a strategy going forward. We’re focused on a win-win relationship."

"As we have worked through the last 5 years, Stanley has been going through a portfolio shift," said Bontrager. "The heritage tools business remains a strong business, but we’ve also put a lot of focus on growing our business away from the home centers. Security now represents about $1.4 billion of our business; it’s more than 30 precent of our business."

According to Byerly, the acquisition will give Stanley's combined security business over 350 sales associates and over 600 field technicians. Byerly said the acquisition puts Stanley's security business into 40 new markets that the company is not in today.

"Looking forward in the total integration plans, I see options to leverage the technical sides of both houses," said Byerly.