Fire, Life Safety Company Is Sold

Irvine-based Consolidated Fire Protection, the nation’s largest independently owned fire services company, was sold Wednesday to management and a San Francisco investment firm.

Gryphon Investors, a private equity firm, said it was leading the group buying Consolidated. Among the investors are Consolidated President Steve Shaffer and Chief Operating Officer Keith Fielding, said Nick Orum, a Gryphon partner.

Orum declined to reveal terms of the purchase from Los Angeles-based Caltius Private Equity Partners, Costa Mesa-based Westar Capital and other shareholders.

With 2004 revenue that exceeded $100 million, Consolidated is relatively small compared with the size of the $9-billion fire and life safety industry. But Consolidated is considered a key player in the Western U.S., designing, installing and servicing systems to detect and put out fires in public and private buildings, Orum said.

Orum said Consolidated’s senior management would remain in place and there were no plans to reduce its workforce of about 600 employees.

Gryphon decided to enter the fire and life safety market, Orum said, because no large company dominates the industry, which some analysts have projected could experience double-digit sales growth in the next two years.

The safety industry received an indirect boost from the formation of the Department of Homeland Security and a related emphasis on office building monitoring systems, he said.

“Regulations regarding fire and life safety are always on the increase. You won’t find yourself in a city that would roll back fire safety standards,” Orum said.

Gryphon typically invests in middle-market companies valued at $50 million to $75 million, and has more than $500 million in capital under management, Orum said.