Tyco International is set to buy out Sensormatic – the electronic security solutions concern – in a deal worth £1.6 billion.
Once the deal goes through, Sensormatic's UK operation – which specialises in the manufacture of electronic article surveillance (EAS) tagging products, CCTV and access control systems – will be subsumed within well-known Tyco subsidiary ADT Fire and Security.

Sensormatic now becomes part of a distinguished family of leading brands, including ADT, SimplexGrinnell and Thorn Security.

The plan is for Tyco to leverage Sensormatic's retail end user base, while enhancing sales of its various loss prevention technologies.

Commenting on the deal, Tyco's chairman and chief executive officer L. Dennis Kozlowski said: "Sensormatic provides an excellent strategic fit with our business. Once we combine its specialisms with our own in the fields of fire and security monitoring, we can then offer the end user complete and integrated security solutions."

As the world's largest electronic security concern, Tyco operates in over 100 countries and is expecting revenues of £26 million in 2001. Last year, Sensormatic – which will now come under the management of Alex McNutt, managing director of ADT in the UK and Ireland – reported an annual turnover of nearly £450 million.