Red Hawk brings $142M

David Milstead, Rocky Mountain News

Published September 7, 2006 at midnight

Text size

More Money & Markets

Greenwood Village-based Red Hawk Industries, a bank-security company, was acquired by giant United Technologies for just under $142 million.

Hartford, Conn.-based United Technologies is the owner of Chubb security and Kidde fire brands and also makes Carrier air conditioners, Otis elevators, and Pratt & Whitney jet engines. It had revenue of $42.7 billion last year.

Privately held Red Hawk bills itself as a security systems integrator. It installs and maintains -ATMs, safes and vaults, drive-up lanes, closed-circuit television systems, alarms and alarm monitoring, access control systems, and safe deposit boxes, as well as providing temporary facilities for disaster recovery. It operates in 30 states and employs 800 workers.

Red Hawk, founded in 1999, built itself up to $142 million in sales through 16 acquisitions, the most recent being the January purchase of Denver-based data-security company National Network Services. As recently as 2001, it had just $15 million in sales. It has been listed for the past two years as one of Inc. magazine's fastest growing companies.

United Technologies said Wednesday it paid "slightly less than one times sales" for Red Hawk. It will be part of United Technologies' Fire & Security unit, which had about $4.25 billion in sales last year.

Unit President Bill Brown called it "an important strategic acquisition that will expand our security services footprint and complement the existing security business in North America."

Brown specifically cited Red Hawk's ATM services.

Red Hawk CEO David Charles was unavailable for comment.

David Milstead is finance editor of the Rocky Mountain News. He can be reached at 303-954-2648 or milstead@RockyMountainNews.com.

Subscribe to the Rocky Mountain News