LOS ANGELES—Andrews International today announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire the U.S. and Mexico guarding operations of Garda World Security Corp. including the uniformed security, asset protection, and U.S. consulting and investigations operations.

According to Randy Andrews, chairman and CEO of Andrews International, this acquisition makes Andrews International the largest privately held, American-owned security service provider of uniformed security, consulting and investigations and personal protection services in the United States.

Andrews, who founded the company 22 years ago, said the deal effectively expands Andrews International’s geographic reach as it now is able to leverage Garda’s existing office in Mexico where the firm had limited presence.

“[Garda] has been in Mexico for 14-15 years … they have substantial operations there and a great client base,” he said.

In addition, the acquisition expands Andrews penetration in the government vertical as its “government vertical is much larger than ours. There is a lot of growth we see in government and [Garda] has a great client base in that area,” Andrews said.

Garda World Security Corp.'s built its uniformed security and investigations division through the purchase of Vance International in 2005 for $67 million, adding Vance's more than 3,000 security personnel to its existing 9,000 guard service employees. Since that time, Garda World worked to integrate Vance into its infrastructure but in a recent financial filing had announced plans to reassess some of its business segments, said Joe Gavaghan, director, corporate communications for Garda World.

Including the Mexico City office, the purchase of the Garda division adds 14 offices to Andrews’ existing infrastructure and brings the company’s total number of offices to 36. Andrews said the company is in the process of evaluating whether there is any overlap between local office facilities. Garda’s employees are also part of the deal as well as its senior management team.

Following completion of the deal, Andrews International will restructure its operations into six U.S. regions. Andrews said the integration process, which narrows the number of regions from its current 10 to six — will be largely transparent to its clients, without any disruption to provision of services. It also has plans to rebrand the Vance/Garda operations under the Andrews International moniker within two years, starting with the commercial side first.

The deal was completed with support from Andrews International’s leading investment partner, Audax Group. Andrews said this was the opportune time to enhance the company’s operations and footprint, regardless of the economic downturn. “There is no doubt there this is a tough time right now, but our organic growth is overcoming that,” he said. “Not being a commodity type of business, we still feel you can have a high quality investment even in the times we are in right now.”