Vivint Considering Selling Company Equity

One of Alarm System Report’s Top Alarm Companies has been rumored to be considering the sale of its company – or some of it at least.  According to a Reuters report Vivint is looking at selling a significant share of equity held by certain partners such as Goldman Sachs.  Vivint is currently the largest home automation provider in North America with over 600,000 customers.  Vivint also recently released an earnings statement that would make them one of the top three alarm companies in North America as well.

Vivint is based in Provo, UT and is considered a “summer sales” type alarm company – meaning the company often sends salespeople door to door in the summer months to sell alarm systems and home automation offerings.  Vivint has also begun installing solar panels on homes to create more eco-friendly systems and more energy efficient homes.

Vivint reportedly turned down a bid to buy the company several months ago from Blackstone Group.  Vivint’s CEO Todd Pederson stated that an offer around $2B was sent to Vivint three to four months ago, but was turned down by the company.

A managing director for CapitalSource’s Security Lending Group, Will Schmidt, was quoted as saying “Goldman Sachs and other investors are looking to sell and want to get liquidity is just a natural part of the private equity investment cycle”.  The other investors include management at Vivint as well as other investment groups.  Said Schimdt, “ [the company] has a combination of strong growth and a large customer base that generates predictable recurring revenue that is attractive to financial buyers.”

So what does this mean for the average consumer looking to purchase a home alarm system?  Not much really.  This type of practice is common with home alarm companies, or with any private company for that matter.

The ownership of Vivint and some early investors are looking to capitalize on their initial investment, and with a growing company like Vivint who can blame them.  As far as the customer is concerned nothing will change and Vivint will continue to provide them with high level monitoring service and home automation.  However, it’s always good to know what’s going on with companies you purchase services from.  Not only their pricing and likability but what’s going happening on a grander scale as well.