Some vital acquisitions

Since its founding in 1994, ASSA ABLOY has acquired more than 150 companies. In 2007, all five business units made acquisitions and in total over 20 companies joined the Group. In 2008 the Group acquired 18 companies. As with past acquisitions, they are generally relatively small, often family-owned companies, although we have also made larger acquisitions over the years that have fundamentally changed the Group’s activities.

Some of ASSA ABLOY’s key acquisitions include:

• Essex (1996) This acquisition gave ASSA ABLOY a leading position on the American security market and boosted Group profits by over 50%.

• A group of French acquisitions (1999)

• Yale Intruder Security (2000) This global lock Group is the ASSA ABLOY Group’s biggest acquisition so far.

• HID (2000) A global market leader in proximity identification access controls. This acquisition expanded the ASSA ABLOY product portfolio with a segment it had never had before – electronic identification. Since then several smaller technological acquisitions and Fargo Electronics have expanded this segment.

• Besam (2002) The world’s leading automatic door opener manufacturer. The company is the core of the ASSA ABLOY Entrance Systems division. Additional acquisitions have enhanced our positions both geographically and in terms of services offered.

• Fargo Electronics (2006) This acquisition is a result of many years of fruitful collaboration between ASSA ABLOY subsidiary the HID Group and Fargo to develop opportunities in the field of secure identification. Fargo is a world leading company in the development of systems for safe issuing of ID cards, including card writers, peripheral equipment and software.

• Baodean Group (2007) This is the leading group on the Chinese market for high-security locks.

• iRevo (2007) Korea’s biggest supplier of digital door locks, with good distribution channels in China as well.

See the ASSA ABLOY historical timeline.