Vivint, the No. 3 company in the CE Pro 100, along with manufacturer 2Gig Technologies, have entered into a definitive agreement to be purchased by a fund managed by Blackstone (NYSE: BX) on behalf of its private equity investors, Blackstone Capital Partner VI, L.P.
The buyers will acquire Vivint from its existing shareholders, including Goldman Sachs, Peterson Partners, Jupiter Partners and other minority shareholders for in excess of $2 billion.
Vivint, which dubs itself as the largest home automation services company in North America, is also the second largest residential security services provider behind ADT. News that Vivint was for sale only became public in the past few weeks. CE Pro profiled Vivint’s path to success earlier in 2012.
Vivint reported for the CE Pro 100 total revenues of $312 million with $27.7 million per month in recurring revenues in 2011. Extracting out the security side, Vivint had total revenues of $51.1 million for its home automation installation and monitoring systems. Vivint is known for its expansive summer-program door-knocking campaigns that yield tremendous amounts of sales. Also, in 2011 it launched tornado warnings as part of its home automation systems.
2Gig Technologies is the maker of the Go!Control panel that Vivint and other integrators use as their home automation platform. The company reportedly sold more than 300,000 panels last year. Earlier this year 2Gig introduced a built-in DVR for its self-contained system.
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As part of the transaction, Blackstone will acquire Vivint Solar, Inc. and 2Gig Technologies, Inc. from its respective shareholders. Vivint Solar is an innovative provider of solar solutions that leverages the power purchase agreement (PPA) model to offer affordable solar power to residential customers throughout North America. 2Gig Technologies is a developer of industry-leading security and automation equipment for the residential and small commercial markets.
“This acquisition by Blackstone is the next milestone needed to continue executing on our vision of connecting customers to the things that matter most to them – their homes, families, health, cars and businesses,” says Todd Pedersen, co-founder and CEO of Vivint. “Our partnership with Blackstone will enable us to expand upon our technology-based platform, accelerate the development and release of new services and enter new markets. I am excited about our future and honored to lead the company into this exciting new era.”
The partnership with Blackstone is expected to enable Vivint to extend its preeminent position in the home automation marketplace, while developing innovative new technologies, products and services designed to expand the company’s influence beyond the home environment into the automobile, the workplace, areas of recreation and other core spheres of human activity. The company will retain its existing management team driving its award-winning customer service approach. It will also continue to expand the sales force that has driven it to leadership in multiple industry categories.
Peter Wallace, senior managing director at Blackstone, says, “Vivint is the premier provider of home technology solutions – improving customers’ lives with world-class home security, energy management, home automation, and solar energy. We believe that the company is well positioned to capture significant share of these emerging markets. Todd Pedersen and the talented team at Vivint have built a remarkable company based on cutting-edge product offerings and superior customer service. Blackstone is excited to partner with them in the next phase of the company’s continued growth and innovation.”
It is expected that the transaction will close before the end of 2012.
Citi and BofA Merrill Lynch acted as financial advisers and Jones Day acted as legal counsel to Vivint in the transaction. Blackstone Advisory Partners and Raymond James acted as financial advisers and Simpson Thacher and Bartlett served as legal counsel to Blackstone in the transaction.
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