Group 4 Securicor (G4S) Plc is a UK-based security firm specialising in security services and solutions for clients.
Its solutions include Secure Solutions and Cash Solutions. Secure Solutions focuses on security and security technology.
Secure Solutions provides software tools, including evidence-based risk assessment, incident management, and travel advisory systems such as RISK360.
G4S is wholly owned by Allied Universal, a leading security and facility services company in North America, which announced the acquisition of G4S Plc.
Allied Universal acquired the company fully in April 2021 after waiving all required offer conditions, including antitrust and regulatory approvals.
The acquisition was valued at £3.8 billion with an offer price of 245p per G4S share.
This made Allied Universal the third-largest employer in North America and the seventh-largest worldwide.
Allied Universal, a prominent security and facility services provider, delivers proactive security services and innovative smart technology for tailored solutions that enable clients to focus on their core business.
It operates in over 100 countries with a global workforce of about 770,000 employees.
The company operates in North America under the existing Allied Universal brand, while its international division uses the G4S brand.
As a global leader in integrated security solutions, Allied Universal has grown through both organic expansion and acquisitions.
Foundation
Beginning in 1901, Marius Hogrefe founded a small guarding business called Kjøbenhavn Frederiksberg Nattevagt.
Five years later, in 1906, Sophus Falck established an independent fire and rescue service named Redningskorpset, which started Scandinavia’s first automobile ambulance service.
By 1930, Falck had expanded to become a nationwide operator in Denmark.
Meanwhile, around the same period, the Philip-Sørensen family founded Securitas AB in Sweden in 1934.
A year later, in 1935, Night Watch Services was launched in the UK by former Liberal Cabinet Minister Edward Shortt KC. The guards wore old police uniforms and patrolled apartment blocks on bicycles.
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History and Growth
The origins of G4S trace back to 1950 when the Philip-Sørensen family formed Securitas International; during the 1950s, Night Watch Services rebranded as Securicor.
This was followed by a decade of expansion across the UK and entry into Africa and Asia.
In 1968, the company rebranded itself as Group 4 Total Security.
Securicor, Falck, and Group 4 operated successfully across various sectors for the next two decades.
Securicor established its Custodial Services operations in 1990.
In 1991, Group 4 managed its first privatised prison in the UK.
In 2000, Group 4 and Falck merged to form ‘Group 4 Falck’.
This was followed by a series of international acquisitions in South Africa, the Czech Republic, and France.
Group 4 Falck became a global brand after acquiring The Wackenhut Corporation, the second-largest security firm in the US, and a Danish intruder alarm business.
It also established Securicor as a competitor and global security company through acquisitions in Canada, Africa, Europe, Asia, and the US.
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G4S Formation & Sale to Allied Universal
In 2004, Securicor merged with Group 4 Falck to form G4S.
The company subsequently listed on the London and Copenhagen Stock Exchanges.
Between 2004 and 2019, G4S made several strategic acquisitions before selling most of its traditional Cash Solutions businesses to The Brink’s Company in February 2020.
In December 2020, G4S’s board recommended the sale of the company to Allied Universal.
The acquisition was completed in April 2021, after which G4S was delisted from both stock exchanges.
Attenti Group Acquisition
In 2022, Allied Universal acquired Attenti Group, a leading electronic monitoring company, and merged it with G4S Monitoring Technologies.
G4S Secure Solutions UK also acquired T.S.S (Total Security Solutions), a major UK provider of security services in the retail sector.
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