Guardian's second purchase is Moore

INDIANAPOLIS--Drawn by its "robust builder program," Guardian Protection Services completed its second-ever acquisition when it bought Moore Security Systems, located here. However, the deal, which officially closed on Jan. 1, is just the first completed of several deals currently in the works, said Russ Cersosimo, chief executive officer of Guardian. Moore Protection brings with it roughly 1,000 accounts and 16 employees, most of whom are technicians. Former owner Chris Moore also came on board to head up the Indianapolis builder program. Guardian now has two offices in Indianapolis, its original 21-employee branch office and the former Moore office, which has been rebranded as Guardian, at 7202 East 87th Street. "The acquisition made sense not only from a business standpoint, but because of the employees as well. We were looking for talent out there and this was the perfect match," Cersosimo said. "We'll continue to look for more of the same." Previously, Guardian had a small builder program here. Those employees have moved to the 87th Street office, which is now the headquarters of Guardian's Indianapolis builder division. This office has a showroom geared to the builder market. The original branch will focus on traditional lines of business. In the security industry since 1991, Moore founded Moore Security in 1998 as a specialty company. "Our main focus has been on supporting builders and we were doing that before builder programs were the fad," he said. Moore credited the success of his business to being "service intensive." Rather than spending money on marketing, he invested in "service and installation. We've always been overstaffed," he said. Moore has been "approached many times, but I hadn't given it much thought before," he said. It was the "close ideology that we share," that enticed Moore to sell his business to Guardian. As part of Guardian, Moore said, "We now have all of the latest advantages of monitored products and services, and we still have that local hometown feel."