BGF invests €3.6m in Dublin security firm Action24

Ireland’s largest growth capital investor, BGF, has invested €3.6 million to acquire a significant minority stake in Action24, a Dublin-based security business which provides monitored intruder alarms, CCTV and access control solutions. Today’s transaction follows a €10.5 million investment announced just a week ago in Irish cybersecurity specialists Edgescan.

Action24 was founded by Derek Mooney in 1981. Derek was joined by his business partner Pat Maloney in 1991 and together they grew the company to being one of Ireland’s leading electronic security businesses with a diversified offering across the domestic and commercial markets. Aaron Mooney took over as CEO in 2018 and has led the company’s continued expansion. Today, the company is at the forefront of technological innovation for it’s 13,000 customers nationwide. It uses cutting edge software from Alarm.com to power its alarm monitoring service, and employs 75 staff operating out of a state-of-the-art facility in Sandyford, Dublin.

Experienced financier Conor Sheahan is joining Action24 as chairman and will invest in the business alongside BGF. Mr Sheahan has a depth of experience in mentoring fast growing businesses including international technology company, Learnosity (as chairman) and Accelerated Payments (as non-executive director). Mark Sykes from BGF will join the Action24 board with Jack O’Kelly of BGF joining as a board observer.

“BGF have shared our vision for the business from our first interactions, and we are very pleased today to be bringing them on board. This investment will help support Action24 on our next exciting phase of growth. We are also delighted to be welcoming Conor Sheahan as Chairman. Conor brings a wide range of relevant experience to the table.”

Aaron Mooney, CEO of Action24

Leo Casey, Head of BGF in Ireland, said; “This is another excellent Irish business which is looking well beyond COVID-19 and we are happy to support their ambitious growth plans. We are patient, long-term investors so the key for us is having confidence that the existing shareholders and management of the businesses we are investing in have the plans and the skill set to achieve their ambitions; this is certainly the case with Action24. We remain very confident about the Irish market, as evidenced by this and our other recent transactions, and we look forward to investing in more ambitious Irish companies over the course of this year.”

Fieldfisher (legal) and Mazars (financial and tax due diligence) acted for BGF. Action24 was advised by CKS Finance (financial) and Bohan Solicitors (legal).