Demand for private security services is growing, helping the business attract interest from private equity (PE) firms and foreign investors, in the wake of terror attacks in big cities. The sector has seen mergers and acquisitions (M&As) worth $400 million (Rs.1,812 crore) over the past two years, according to global consultancy firm Grant Thornton India. In August, Goldman Sachsowned Danish facility management firm International Service System A/S (ISS) acquired Chennai-based SDP Cisco for Rs. 200 crore, according to VCCircle, a trade publisher. Last year, G4S Plc, the largest security services provider in India by revenue, acquired Eureka Forbes Ltd project security systems arm for an undisclosed amount. Indian business TOPS Security Services Ltd, or Topsgrup, acquired the UK,s The Shield Guarding Co Ltd for $31.25 million in 2008. PE firm ICICI Venture Funds Management Ltd invested $26.74 million in Topsgrup in 2007, Standard Chartered Private Equity Ltd invested $33 million in Firepro Systems Pvt Ltd in late 2009, and DE Shaw group picked up a 14% stake in Security and Intelligence Services (India) Ltd, or SIS, in 2008.
“M&A is the favourite, tried and tested route for maintaining a superior position in the market, although our business was growing at 45% CAGR (compounded annual growth rate) before the transaction,” said Ramesh Iyer, managing director, Topsgrup. A spate of terrorist attacks in metros such as Mumbai, New Delhi and Bangalore in recent years have boosted demand for private security services, with corporate offices, hotels, residential complexes as well as individuals becoming more concerned about security. Even outside the metros, high networth individuals are willing to spend more on private security to avoid risks such as abduction and extortion. This year, a businessman in Mumbai spent Rs. 50 crore on security arrangements at his new home, calling in foreign defence experts for consultation, using bulletproof glass for every window and building a safe room to protect himself and his family from nuclear explosion, said a director at a security firm, on the condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to talk about the matter.
A 2009 report by the consultancy firm KPMG estimated the private security business in India is worth Rs. 45 billion and growing at an estimated 25% CAGR annually. There are nearly five million private security personnel in India, outnumbering the army, navy, air force, police and Central Bureau of Investigation put together, said the report. It estimated that private security personnel are double the number of police personnel, and will soon become three times the police strength. Security services firms have also started offering services such as cash, facility and inventory management and pest control. “If a business offers more than just guarding services, for example, cash management, movement of inventory, logistics and facility management-and most key guarding players have begun to offer the entire gamut of services-(it becomes) a good case of investment,” said Vikram Hosangady, executive director at KPMG India. Indian security services companies are also acquiring foreign firms. SIS, for instance, acquired AustraliaRs.s largest security agency, Chubb Security, in 2008 for more than $200 million. Rituraj Sinha, chief operating officer at SIS, said his firm doubled its profit after this acquisition. “The Australian business we bought was being run like a conglomerate, with accounting done by Accenture, things that US businesses do as a matter of practice.
A guarding business does not (do) all this. So we brought operations in-house, rationalized, reduced operating cost, we got a new IT (information technology) system which brought in profit correction,” said Sinha. The sector still faces many challenges. The Private Security Agencies (Regulation) Act 2005, for instance, is recognized by just three state governments: Punjab, Gujarat and Maharashtra. The law is important for the industry to mature, said the KPMG report, given that there are more than 3,500 illegal manned guarding companies. Compliance issues, such as adhering to minimum wage rules, maximum work hours, paying for guardsRs. uniforms, making provident fund contributions for workers and so on, are problems that still restrict investment. “If you have a large force and attrition is a problem, training and then retraining is expensive,” said a business consultant, who did not want to be named. “The promoter may not be able to keep shelling out as the costs can be forbidding.”
Source: India Infoline