Better Protection, an Abry Partners-backed fire protection services company, is continuing to search for acquisitions to expand its footprint after completing six deals, said Don Mershon, CEO.

“It’s a constant battle. We would like to add USD 3m-USD 5m in EBITDA a year through acquisition.”

Abry created the Chicago-based Better Protection platform by merging two companies in September 2022. The company now provides a full range of inspection, testing, maintenance, repair, retrofit, installation, and design capabilities. The company projects about USD 53m in revenue for calendar year 2024 and is “very profitable,” Mershon said.

The goal is to “build an enduring company with quality of revenue that is 80%-plus recurring”, he said. Better Protection is very deliberate about cross-selling among its acquired companies, he said.

Mershon expects half of growth to come through M&A. He thinks the business can reach USD 100m in revenue in two years, putting it “right on the heels” of large national competitors such as Pye-Barker; Summit Fire Protection and Marmic.

In addition to acquisition-led growth, Mershon said he wants the company to improve its EBITDA margin from about 19% to 22% over that span.

The space has seen heavy M&A activity. This month, Pye-Barker, backed by Atlas and Leonard Green, acquired Security On-Line Systems; Summit, backed by BlackRock Long Term Private Capital, bought General Fire and Safety in August and Marmic was acquired by KKR in July.

Abry created the Better Protection platform because “the fragmentation in the industry was obvious and there was an ability to consolidate at relatively low cost. They liked that the nature of the business is biased toward recurring revenue,” Mershon added.

Targets can have between USD 500,000 and USD 5m of EBITDA, though Better Protection would also look at larger deals. It recently pursued one target with USD 25m in EBITDA and could do so again, he said. Opportunities should have strength in at least one fire protection discipline from fire pumps to sprinklers, alarms or extinguishers, he said.

Valuation multiples tend to be “reasonable,” he said, typically below 10 times EBITDA, especially for smaller companies.

The latest acquisition, of DFS Fire Systems in November, grows its footprint in the Southwest. DFS was the company’s sixth deal, and its largest acquisition so far, adding 75 employees, he said. Better Protection now has close to 250.

Mad River Associates was the buy side advisor. Paul Hastings was Better Protection’s attorney. Plunk Smith advised DFS. BMO was the lender.

Mershon has over 35 years of fire protection and life safety industry experience, according to his professional bio.