Confessions of a first time acquirer

A trip to Lancashire to see what doing a deal meant to a business owner

Like the birth of your children and your wedding day, completing a deal for the first time is a life-changing experience.

It’s a sobering reminder to many advisers and funders in the whole world of mergers and acquisitions that the language, the protocols and the processes are very alien to most business owners. 

This thought was never more apparent than when spending time talking to Brian Curran (pictured, above) the founder and chief executive of Lancashire-based security business KeyPlus this week. 

We spoke just a few days after KeyPlus Security acquired another small local business, SteelSec, in order to expand its portfolio of security services with a Fire & Security systems division.

From his base and control centre on the Shuttleworth Mead business park between Padiham and Burnley, Brian breathed a sigh of relief once he’d got the deal over the line.

“I’ve always said a lot of costumers see security as a more reluctant purchase, like insurance, but over time we prove our worth and we’re there when things go wrong.

“We try and offer something localised and personal, in a world where a lot of service levels have become very impersonal and remote. We like to think we offer high levels of service,” he says.

Since KeyPlus was founded in 2008, he’s concentrated on getting proper accreditation for his 24/7 Mobile Response security services which operates across the North West and Yorkshire, which includes: Key Holding, Alarm Response, Mobile Patrols, Void Property Inspections and Locks/Unlocks.

He’s also worked hard on building an impressive client list that includes well-known Lancashire businesses as AMS Neve, Glen Dimplex and Promethean, as well as schools, colleges and local councils.

But Brian has also been keeping learned and esteemed company.

He enrolled on a Growth programme at Lancaster University Business School, and was also selected to take part in the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses programme. That expanded his horizons and he started focusing on how to build value in his business and also to expand the service proposition to his customers.