Irish alarm manufacturer HKC acquired by Swedish group Assa Abloy

Swedish lock manufacturer Assa Abloy has acquired Irish alarm manufacturer HKC for a consideration which is believed to be a sizeable premium on the company's value of €21.5 million.

HKC, which was established in 1991 and has some 45 employees with a head office in Ballymount, Dublin, is a manufacturer of alarms and cloud based monitoring solutions. It has a strong presence in the UK, a market it entered in 2011, and produces a range of electronic intruder and life safety products, including hybrid, and complete wireless control panels. Sales for 2018 are expected to reach about €18 million, “with a good EBIT margin” Assa Abloy said, adding that the acquisition will be accretive to the company’s earnings per share (EPS) “from the start”.

The deal marks a significant windfall for founder and chief executive Gerard Kelly, who remains the company's main shareholder, with a stake of more than 50 per cent in HKC. Shareholder Nicholas Quigley, former chief executive of Phonewatch and current commercial director of HKC, will also benefit.

Assa Abloy, the Swedish door opening solutions specialist, was founded in 1994 and has grown from a regional company into an international group with about 47,500 employees, operations in more than 70 countries and sales of SEK 76 billion (€7.4 billion).

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Nico Delvaux, president and chief executive of Assa Abloy, said he was “very pleased” to welcome HKC into the Assa Abloy group.

“HKC offers a comprehensive portfolio of wired and wireless alarm products as well as monitoring solutions that in a very good way complements the Assa Abloy offering in the Irish market”, he said.

HKC was advised on the deal by Dublin corporate finance boutique Pegasus Capital.