M&A Industry Deep Dive: Fire Protection

Summary

The market

In 2026 the Australian fire protection industry is in the early stages of a consolidation cycle led by multiple large buyers, and sellers currently are in a good position. Two forces will shape the next few years.

Technician shortage

A licensed technician shortage rewards well-staffed businesses.

Compliance rules

Mandatory AS 1851 maintenance and tighter compliance rules make recurring maintenance/T&I revenue more valuable.

Who's Buying

• 9 acquisitions by ARA Group in FY24, for $63.2m
• US$3.1bn APi Group's 2022 purchase of Chubb Fire & Security
• $53.5m top price in Southern Cross Electrical's Force Fire deal

ARA Group

Australia's leading domestic consolidator, now ranked #1 in fire protection services. Nine acquisitions in FY24 for $63.2m, buying across wet, dry and passive fire.

APi Group (Chubb)

Acquired Chubb Fire & Security in 2022 in a deal at US$3.1bn, around 12× EBITDA. The natural buyer for larger businesses.

Southern Cross Electrical

ASX-listed contractor that entered fire in April 2025 by acquiring Force Fire for up to $53.5m, at 4.8× EBIT on completion.

Foreign strategics

Jensen Hughes, Siemens and BGIS have all bought in Australia since 2023, across fire engineering, suppression and maintenance businesses.

Trade buyers

Remain the main buyers of smaller, owner-operated businesses, typically bank-funded, and typically at lower multiples than PE and corporate buyers pay.

What Is Your Business Worth?

Fire protection businesses are valued as a multiple of normalised EBITDA (your true operating profit after adjusting owner wages to market rates and removing one-off or personal expenses).

The biggest driver of the multiple is revenue type.

Install revenue

Install revenue (new sprinkler, alarm and passive fire works) is construction-cyclical and won job by job.

Maintenance/T&I revenue

Maintenance/T&I revenue (testing and inspection under AS 1851 and annual fire safety statements) is legally required and recurring, so buyers pay far more for it.

Multiples by Revenue Mix

• 2.5–3.5× EBITDA: more than 70% install revenue
• 3.5–5× EBITDA: mixed install and maintenance
• 4.5–6.5× EBITDA: 60–70% maintenance/T&I revenue
• 5.5–8× EBITDA: more than 70% maintenance/T&I revenue

Types of Fire Protection Businesses

Businesses also differ by discipline: wet, dry or passive.

Wet

Sprinklers, hydrants, pumps.

Install-led: 2.5–3.5×. Construction-cyclical, working-capital heavy.

Maintenance/T&I-led: 5.0–7.0×. Scarcest licensed workforce.

Dry

Detection, alarms, monitoring.

Install-led: 3.0–4.5×. Shorter projects, electrical adjacency.

Maintenance/T&I-led: 6.0–8.0×+. Recurring monitoring revenue.

Passive

Fire doors, dampers, seals, cladding.

Install-led: 2.5–3.5×. Remediation work can exceed on backlog.

Maintenance/T&I-led: 4.5–6.0×. Growing inspection annuity, defect-tail risk.

Increasing Sale Price

1. Move licences off the owner. Buyers pay for licences held by the company or employed technicians, not the vendor personally. Start preparing 12–18 months before sale.
2. Clean up the financials. Maintain well-documented accounts. Every dollar of properly evidenced EBITDA is multiplied into the sale price.
3. Lock in your team. Retention arrangements for key technicians and managers, agreed before sale, are a premium driver and usually an earn-out precondition.
4. Reduce customer concentration. A single client above 20% of revenue typically takes 0.5–1.5× off the multiple.
5. Run a competitive process. The right advisor runs both buyer pools against each other, rather than negotiating with one trade buyer.

Where to Start

A free, confidential appraisal tells you what your business could be worth before you commit to anything.