COSCO Fire Protection, Inc. Acquires Fire Call

Gryphon Investors, a San Francisco-based private equity firm, announced today that a subsidiary of its portfolio company, Consolidated Fire Protection, LLC (“CFP”), has acquired Paramount, CA-based Fire Call, a major provider of commercial fire alarm and detection systems in Southern California. Terms were not disclosed.

CFP, based in Irvine, California, is the largest independently-owned fire and life safety services company in the United States. The company’s Cosco and Firetrol subsidiaries offer design, installation, inspection, repair and service of fire safety systems to protect life and property for commercial, industrial, and institutional customers.

Fire Call will become a unit of Cosco Fire Protection. Former Fire Call owner and current Cosco executive Fred Kramer will oversee the company’s integration.

Gryphon anticipates that CFP will continue to benefit from such favorable macro trends as increased construction spending and a strong focus on the fire and life safety (FLS) sector. The acquisition of Fire Call will build on these strong industry dynamics by allowing CFP’s Cosco unit to further strengthen its market share and product line in the important alarm and detection (A&D) segment.

Keith Fielding, CFP Chief Operating Officer, said, “For the past several years, CFP has successfully executed a strategy to transform itself into a leading diversified integrated FLS services business. The addition of Fire Call will provide CFP’s Cosco business with a critical mass of A&D volume in Southern California, Cosco’s largest market, and will allow us to leverage both companies’ relationships to cross-sell A&D and fire sprinkler services.”

About Gryphon Investors

Based in San Francisco, Gryphon Investors focuses on leveraged acquisitions of, and growth investments in, middle-market companies in partnership with experienced management. Having managed more than $1 billion of discretionary equity capital, Gryphon has an extensive track record of investing $25 to $75 million of its own capital in companies with sales ranging from $25 to $250 million. Gryphon prioritizes investment opportunities where it can form proactive partnerships with owners and executives to build leading companies, utilizing Gryphon’s capital, professional resources and significant financial and operational expertise. Visit www.gryphoninvestors.com for more information.

Contacts

Caroline Luz

Lambert & Co.
203-656-2829
CLUZ@LAMBERT.COM