Tyco Acquires Exacq
Author: John Honovich, Published on Jun 19, 2013Tyco is spending $150 million in cash to acquire VMS/NVR manufacturer Exacq, who generated $54.6 million in 2012. This is one of the most expensive and significant deals in the video surveillance industry (see our directory of 25 acquisitions).
Exacq's Rapid Ascent
Exacq has been one of the fastest growing companies in surveillance, growing revenue 73% in 2012, faster than even Avigilon. Exacq now generates more revenue than Milestone ($54.6 vs $51.1 million). While the company's marketing has been relatively understated, expansion has been rapid.
Tyco's Struggles
Tyco, on the other hand, has struggled in IP video surveillance. Its video surveillance division, American Dynamics, used to be one of the top providers in the past decade, with its Intellex DVR line. However, AD has lost their way, acquiring a small VMS company (TridentTek in 2007) and then OEMing Exacq for its Hybrid Line. Today, AD has a poor fit in the market, with average products at above average pricing.
Premium Paid
Typically, surveillance manufacturers, like Tyco, prefer to pay pennies on the dollars for their acquisitions. However, Tyco is paying nearly 3 times Exacq's 2012 revenues, which is far higher than normal and at $150 million total, is quite significant. Despite Tyco already having multiple overlapping VMS / NVR lines, the hefty price indicates how much Tyco needs Exacq.
That noted, given Exacq's rapid growth and profitability, it is not an unreasonable price to pay.
Tyco Security Products Explanation
The VP of Global Sales at Tyco Security Products has sent a letter/email to their dealers, claiming that "Their products will be highly complementary additions to our current portfolio of American Dynamics video solutions." This is wrong as the overlap on the video management side is very significant as AD already has numerous VMS / NVR / DVR options.
What Will Happen?
Tyco will most likely ruin Exacq. They are Tyco, after all. However, what exactly happens depends on how Exacq is integrated and whether the Exacq management team will remain long term.
This is the second win for Exacq's founders, who previously sold Integral to Pelco and then turned around, built Exacq and kicked Pelco/Integral's ass. It is especially impressive because Tyco paid them all cash, which is a bearish sign for them staying long term within Tyco.
For Exacq's competitors, this is excellent news, because Exacq has been taking market share even from leading rivals for years (Milestone, Genetec and OnSSI included). Tyco does not add much even in the way of sales channel as Exacq as widely available through more than 1000 integrators and via distribution.
UPDATE - The Tyco / AD / ADT Connection
The biggest fear that other security manufacturers expressed is the connection between Tyco Integrated Services (the old ADT integrator) and American Dynamics. With a stronger VMS platform in Exacq, this may motivate Tyco to push Exacq at the expense of third party offerings. Avigilon, among others, has recently been touting Tyco as a major new growth partner.
Overall
I suspect the industry has just lost today, but it is a good outcome for the Exacq team who has quietly executed exceptionally.
UPDATE: Exacq Founder's Comment
Exacq's Tom Buckley offered the following comment to IPVM:
"Exacq Technologies remains as Exacq Technologies. Dave, Dan and I remain as executive management. They bought us for us, and did not have any built-in reductions in staff nor do they expect any consolidation of the sales channel. They expect us to grow as Exacq and there are natural synergies, particularly internationally where they have a strong presence and where we are weak. We may have a strong channel position in North America, but we are behind all of our major competitors internationally. We see this merger as a positive growth step in the company."
This is good news for those who want Exacq to remain as is, though obviously it remains to be seen how well and how long Tyco allows this.
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Comments (67)
This is great for us that compete against Tyco. Excaq is a well known product, and many know its weaknesses. I was aware Tyco was dealing with Avigilon to some degree but them buying Exacq is a great news to us. It is a huge blow to all those exacq fans out there. I agree that Tyco will ruin Excaq. I think it is starting to show how desperate Tyco is to get into the IP industry. Their reputation from ADT has been hard to overcome.
UPDATE: My earlier comment was incorrect.
I believe Jose is right. Tyco Integrated Security is a subsidiary of Tyco Inc which also owns AD / Tyco Security Products, so there is a direct financial connection and the potential to favor Exacq over Avigilon, Genetec, etc.
Damn. Just when I was starting to like Exacq.
When I worked for them years ago, the joke was TYCO stood for "Take Your Company Over".
John G,
Well American Dynamics is/was no great company either. I had a couple of run-ins with their Technical Support in the late 90's and early 00's that put them on our "Do Not Buy" list.
Via Twitter, "Good way to ruin a great security products company - have it acquired by a large publicly-traded conglomerate."
This does not serve as a surprise to me at all. I just hope that ExacQ product development remains the way it has been. 6 sigma certification is probably what they will push for with the product which always slows down the development.
Well that was unexpected.
Nooooooooooooo!
Well, it's a sweet spot every entrepreneur hopes to hit one day! Well done Exacq team.
I only would like to comment to anti Tyco community that why don't you buy such good companies before Tyco does, so you don't have to end up being jealous and getting out of competition.
Its a business deal between Tyco & Exacq. Stay out of wasting time on your useless comments, which is not going to reverse the deal.
Undisclosed, I do think Tyco made a good decision here. They paid the premium and pulled the trigger on a strong product line. My question, and I think, the fear of many, is whether they can sustain the Exacq line long term.
I knew there was a reason we didn't take on Exacq as a partner.... This is quite fitting. I'm sure Commerce Casino is pretty pissed that they dumped hundreds of thousands of dollars into American Dynamics last year, only to find their products are garbage. If only they had waited a year they could have had slightly better garbage...
Undisclosed, I'm sure it's a great idea to buy good companies like Milestone, Genetec, and OnSSI. But considering Tyco ended up with Exacq it sounds like they aren't for sale... There's a reason. Their owners and shareholders don't wish to flush their companies down the drain for a quick buck.
Gleason, I don't think it's appropriate to call this a quick buck. Exacq's been in business ~10 years.
I bet if Tyco offered OnSSI $150 million in cash, they would sell in a heartbeat. I have no inside information, it's just my gut feel considering that they OEM Milestone for their recorder.
As for Milestone, they are ambitious, and are probably holding out for more than Exacq, even though Milestone's revenue and profits are less and their growth rate is far lower.
As for Genetec, I couldn't even guess.
No way any shareholder from Milestone, Genetec, OnSSI would pass up an offer for 3x revenue. No way.
This was not unexpected, I've been expecting this for the past couple of years. The owners have made a living off of selling their companies for decades. I believe this is the fourth company they have sold off. They know how to start a company and make it successful and when to sell it to get the most out of it. In five years, they'll probably start another one and do it all over again. True Vision (sp), Integral, and now Exacq to name the last three.
Time will tell if Tyco runs it into the ground. That is what happened to Integral. The only thing left from that company is a DVR line for Pelco. A good portion of the employees worked for Integral so they should have expected the sale once they became successful. Integral was actually purchased a few times before it was run into the ground, so you never know. I expect that they will at least keep going for a few more years in a positive direction. If the employees start bailing like rats from a ship, then that is a sure sign things are bad.
Well I can't speak directly for any of these companies, I will say that an executive that takes pride in what they do and what they build doesn't sell out to a company like Tyco. They surely know the product will not fare as well as it has.
Do we have any idea how independent Exacq will remain under the Tyco name? How much control do other business units (like Software House, Kantech, DSC, or AD) have?
The problem is AD already does video, so you cannot keep Exacq independent from AD. They do the same damn things. They have to make a decision what happens with Intellex, VideoEdge and Exacq, coordinating appropriately.
It would have been a lot easier if Tyco didn't have an existing video offering, but integrating this is going to be painful.
This was expected. Rumors about a Tyco acquisition have persisted for the last few years, since AD starting OEMing Exacq.
That said, I am not sure what options Exacq had here. At some point a company needs to exit, either through acquisition or IPO. Unfortunately, the US IPO market, because of Sarbanes Oxley, etc. makes it very hard to IPO unless a company is fairly huge ($100+ million revenue), which is had for surveillance companies because of the limited overall market size. Ironically, it's easier for surveillance companies of similar size in other countries to go public (e.g., Avigilon, Mobotix, IndigoVision, ACTi, etc.).
"I will say that an executive that takes pride in what they do and what they build doesn't sell out to a company like Tyco."
Tell that to David McDonald (Pelco -> Schneider), Pete Jankowski (Loronix -> Verint, Sypix -> Cisco, Next Level - ???) and numerous others...
The $150 Million sale price just seems really high to me. To me, that is the most surprising part.
Maybe the Integral/Exacq guys can take this big wad of cash and go 3 for 3?
Will this trigger a round of buying wars between the congolmorates? They always seem to have to one-up each other. If so, who are the likely candidates?
That sucks! TYCO sucks and is going to completely jack it up on a bunch of fronts!
I don't use their hardware because I can design and build my own servers for less with more power, but I like the software. Sure it's lacking some features, but not when you compare costs, ease of use, integration with Windows, Mac, and Linux.
Well, I wouldn't vouch for Schneider Electric either, especially considering how they've run Pelco into the ground. Then you have Honeywell, who screws up just about everything they touch in Video Surveillance. Also, I forgot to include Beat Meier et al, who sold Fast Video Security to NICE, who proceeded to strip the product of everything useful and abandon it.
I cant wait until we get big enough to sell to Tyco!!
Whats about all the hate for Tyco, is it just because they are big or are their products really overprices and bad quality? In what ways have they run products and companies to the ground earlier?
Good question, why the hate for Tyco?
I am not sure 'hate' is the right word, though some may 'hate' them, mostly it's about a lack of respect (for the organization, not the people).
Yes, they are really big and the products tend to be mediocre. As for Tyco as integrator (i.e., the old ADT Business), they have a terrible reputation among end users for screw-ups, indifference, etc.
They might just strip the company down for the technology and leave it as an empty husk... as sad as that might seem, it does happen.
What about me as an integrator, I have just started looking at CEM access control solutions, and if they not get the AC2000 Lite version integrated with Exacq it looks like a sweet combo to me. DCS intruder products also seems nice.
Is the reputation of the companies inside the Tyco security group just as bad?
Typically when any large conglomerate takes over another successful company, their huge corporate heavy policies and old outdated ideas start taking over. That's when the talent and creative driving forces either leave or are run out from the company.
There are many examples across all kinds of tech industries that demonstrates it. I just hope the Exacq developers as well as the creative forces behind the software are at least somewhat left alone and intact.
Fredrik, the reputation varies, though on the video side, they are not much known for innovation. They tend to be slow in new releases and behind the cutting edge.
That said, VMS server software is reaching the stage now where it's more about maintenance and incremental advances than sweeping changes. The innovation in VMS is now more on the edge and in the cloud.
The phones of the code developers have to be ringing off the hook with calls from Avigilon/OnSSI/Genetec etc...
I suspect Tyco is taking actions (either carrot or stick) to make such moves more difficult. That said, I agree that, when acquisitions occur, it provide an opening for rivals to pouch.
With 45K out in Exacq quotes, i'm comfortable with the quotes since those system will remain static during their lifespans. Next year at this time, I'm not sure how i'll feel about Exacq. So I may or maynot be quoting them. I just have to let this run its course :(
What does Honeywell do to respond to Tyco so they can mess up another company in the security industry as well?
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