Telus Corp., one of Canada’s largest telecommunications companies, is expanding its security business and has agreed to acquire ADT Security Services Canada, Inc. (ADT Canada) for approximately CAD 700 million. ADT Canada provides security and automation services for residential and business customers. The company has about 500,000 customers and 1,000 team members across the country.
Jim DeVries, President and CEO at ADT, said, “The sale of our more capital intensive Canadian operations enables us to sharpen our focus on the exciting growth and higher margin opportunities in the U.S., where we can more efficiently invest our time and resources. Importantly, these emerging opportunities are ideal for leveraging the trusted ADT brand as we continue generating strong free cash flow to drive shareholder value over the long term.”
According to the agreement, all of the ADT Canada team members and customers will join Telus. The company said it will “deepen ADT Canada’s roots by ensuring its services continue to be provided and supported by a Canadian company that also prioritizes privacy and security.” The Vancouver-based carrier said that it wants to expand on its home and business security services, which are of significant importance to Telus customers.
“This acquisition furthers Telus’ commitment to leverage the power of technology to bring state-of-the-art convenience, control and safety into the lives, homes and businesses of more Canadians,” said Telus. This step is expected to strengthen the package of products offered by Telus, and at the same time lead to direct competition with technology giants such as Amazon and Google.
Telus noted that it most likely added more than 12,000 new customers to its security business in the third quarter of 2019, bringing its total security subscriber base to about 100,000 prior to the acquisition of ADT Canada, which is expected to close in the fourth quarter of this year. More details will be provided with the release of the company’s third quarter results on November 7, 2019.
