Kessler joins Imperial Capital

NEW YORK--Well-known security industry analyst Jeff Kessler joined Imperial Capital in July as a managing director. Imperial Capital is a full-service investment group based in Los Angeles, with offices here and in San Francisco. “Jeff has a proven track record as an industry expert in security. Clients and prospective clients will be happy that we have someone like Jeff on our team,” said John Mack, Imperial Capital’s head of M&A. Mack is the former head of Protection One and CEO and founder of boutique investment group USBX, which was acquired by Imperial in 2007. Kessler, who is based at Imperial’s New York office, will work with “large public clients who are looking for investment ideas in the security industry,” Mack said. He’ll “work with us to support our industry reports and white papers and take a significant role in helping us with our conferences”—Security Industry Growth Conference and the Homeland Security Investor’s Conference, which will take place October 21 and 22 in Washington, D.C. In addition, Kessler will “work to develop investment banking client opportunities for the firm.” Kessler was an analyst for many years with Lehman Brothers. According to a prepared statement from Imperial, Kessler “participat[ed] in some of the security industry’s leading transactions, including the sale of ADT to Tyco International, Honeywell’s acquisition of Pittway Assa Abloy’s acquisition of HID, and the IPO of Burns International.” Kessler said his position was structured in a way that he can “still talk to historical public and private equity clients, as well as engage in business development work.” He hopes to “increase the flow of equity business on the trading desk with regard to security companies,” and said he’s happy to be at a firm “where things happen really fast and without a lot of bureaucracy.” This past spring, Kessler launched a blog, which quickly developed an extensive and loyal following of several thousand people. That blog, www.thesecurityanalyst.com, has been suspended, but Kessler plans to launch a new blog “under Imperial Capital compliance oversight.” The blog will not include “buy, sell, hold recommendations on companies, but it will involve industry trends and issues,” he said.