Fire and security specialist completes fourth acquisition of 2021
EA-RS Group, a provider of fire and security systems and backed by the Richardson family businesses, has completed the acquisition of Northern Ireland-based Crane Communications.
Crane Communications is the fourth company EA-RS Group has bought in 2021, following the acquisitions of West Midlands-based CCSS Fire & Security, AST London, and the trade and assets of Essex Fire Sprinklers.
The deals follow the investment made into the business by the Richardson family, who were advised by RCL Partners, and Rockpool Investments earlier this year.
Crane provides a range of services from CCTV, lighting, entertainment, access control, alarms, and AV, tailoring services for both commercial and domestic clients.
This acquisition enables the EA-RS Group to broaden its geographic reach and give it access to London’s commercial security market.
Sean Hickey, investment director at RCL Partners, said: “We are delighted to be able to support EA-RS and back the management team as they continue to identify exciting growth opportunities across the UK. EA-RS is an industry leader, operating in a growing sector with an impressive management team. EA-RS represents everything we look for when providing growth capital to UK businesses.”
Alan Wheal, CEO of EA-RS Group, said: “EA-RS Group’s acquisition of Crane Communications will offer us access to the Northern Irish market, making way for further developments in RoI, and the opportunity to build on our existing operations in London. This acquisition will accelerate our plans to provide a multi-disciplined offering across Fire, Security and Data, expanding our geographic reach and service offering.”
David McConkey, managing director of Crane, added: “I am incredibly excited to have Crane Communications become a member of the growing EA-RS family. We have been incredibly fortunate to find partners in EA-RS who share Crane’s core values, we know that these will provide real benefits to our staff and customers. The ability to offer our customers additional critical life safety systems from within the EA-RS Group, as well as the opportunity to offer our specialist systems to existing EA-RS Group customers, will help drive the next steps in our incredible journey.”
