ASG continues density-building strategy in Texas

HOUSTON, Texas--ASG removed two of its direct competitors and increased its direct sales force in this market when it acquired two Houston-based security companies. The deals, which closed at the end of February, mark the 25th and 26th ASG acquisitions within the past 23 months. A major regional security company with operations in Texas and the mid-Atlantic region, ASG's other Texas branches include Dallas, San Antonio, McAllen, Austin, Corpus Christi and Laredo. One of the companies' names was not released. The second company was Eagle Broadband's security division. On March 2, Eagle announced it had sold its security division outright to ASG for $1.4 million. Brian Morrow, general manager of Eagle Broadband's IPTV solutions division and acting marketing director, said "we had an opportunity to sell the division to ASG and we felt that in the long term, the security business was not central to our business strategy." Asked if Eagle entertained other offers for the division, Morrow said, "You can presume that we didn't accept one offer in isolation." Morrow said ASG acquired both the business and the 25-30 security employees. The sales group immediately moved into ASG's Houston office. Operations employees were expected to be moved in by the first of April. "In total, this gives us $120,000 in new RMR in Houston and adds almost 4,800 new customers in the account base," said Bob Ryan, vice president of sales and marketing for ASG. "These transactions continue our strategy of building density in and around our existing branch operations," said Joe Nuccio, president of ASG. "They leverage our existing infrastructure and build company value," he added.