ARA Company Profile

ARA Group History
In 2001, Edward Federman and Leo Browne formed a holding company, ARA Group Pty Ltd, ('ARA') to acquire leading building service and building product companies in Australia.

Since May 2001, Federman and Browne (The Partners) have acquired in excess of 20 mature and profitable building service and building product manufacturing companies that offer a broad range of complementary solutions and products.

The Partners will leverage off their combined 50 years of acquisition and business integration experience to grow and develop the ARA Group. The Partners have made a significant financial commitment of their own capital to fund the acquisitions, internal growth strategies, expansions and the recruitment of experienced personnel.

The current annual turnover of the ARA Group is approximately $200 million.

Acquisition Strategy
The growth strategy is for regional penetration, to establish the scale, reputation and positioning to have a meaningful presence in Australia and provide our customers with a viable, stable and quality alternative to the multi-nationals in the market today.

Acquire niche, highly specialised service providers, contractors and manufacturers.
It is an imperative that any acquired company has a reputation for quality and has been in business for a minimum of ten years.
Focus on companies that have a strong product technology, market position, brand recognition and management necessary to continue operating as a stand-alone platform company. The platform company will have the capability to manage and absorb both internal growth and add-on acquisitions.
Target companies in Australia.
Work with existing management of the operating companies to acquire smaller, add-on acquisitions that strengthens their product offering, distribution and/or customer base.

The ARA Group is a privately owned Business, focused on companies that have a strong product technology, market position, brand recognition and sound management necessary to continue operating as an independent company. Each company has the capacity to manage and absorb both internal growth and add-on acquisitions.

Company Profile
The objective of the Partners is to select various platforms within the wider range of building services and building products and within the holding company framework to build a strong regional company. The Partners are focused on building a customer service oriented group of companies. The Partners envision a significant privately held company that is an acknowledged leader in the building service industry.

This position has been achieved by acquiring companies that possess a strong market or niche position, strong technology, and sound management. The Group companies are managed by experienced and capable individuals with significant experience in their respective businesses. The Group has a culture of quality that will set a standard for the building service industry.

The Partners have purchased well established companies with a reputation for quality and excellence to form the ARA Group. In summary, the flagship companies and the platforms established are:

AIC Solutions - Security system designers, contractors and service providers.

Air Conditioning Engineering Services (ACES) - Service and maintenance of commercial and industrial air conditioning services.

ARA Property Services Australia - Providers of integrated property maintenance solutions

Automatic Fire Protection - Fire protection engineers, designers, contractors and service providers.

Bass Electrical - Electrical engineers, contractors and service providers.
	Bass / Wollongong Electrical Engineering - Bass / WEE are specialists in engineering, manufacturing, installation and maintenance.

Datatech Australia - Communications, data cabling and network specialists.

Environmental Automation - Building automation, energy management and access control specialists.

Excell Control - Distributors of industrial, automation and process control products. network specialists.

Monarch Group - Manufacturer of aluminium shutters, grilles and specialised engineered doors.
	Renlita Overhead Doors - Manufacturer of commercial and residential doors.

Sealeck Group - Manufacturer of steel doors, security doors, stainless steel containment doors, fire doors and bullet proof doors and partitions.

ARA Integrated Maintenance Services (AIMS) System
The Partners recognise that, in order to properly manage their already significant and ever growing service business, they would need to put in place solid management systems. Accordingly, in March 2003 the decision was made to implement a mobile maintenance and inspection management system.

ARA Group companies use the ARA Integrated Maintenance Services (AIMS) System to manage and control the scheduling, tracking, and execution of all service, maintenance and inspection activities for our clients. The System utilises handheld computing devices and proprietary web-based application software to provide the following functions:

• Asset Management
• Service Management
• Maintenance Management
• Reporting & Data Analysis
• Compliance Monitoring
• Customer Web Portal

Our technicians in the field link wirelessly with AIMS providing immediate feedback on work performed. Total visibility of this work is provided to our clients through a secure web portal that gives authorised users on-line access to their assets and associated maintenance information anywhere, anytime.

Using the AIMS System in the execution of all facets of our maintenance work delivers the following benefits to our clients:

A comprehensive register of all assets under maintenance, which is updated routinely, providing accurate and up-to-date asset information at all times. Most importantly, a history of all changes to the initial asset base are recorded and available for viewing and analysis.
Prompt, accurate and safe routine servicing of equipment on-time, every time.
Guaranteed attendance of technicians on site, verifiable through AIMS state of the art barcoding system which time and date stamps all actions performed on the handheld.
A secure audit trail of all maintenance actions performed.
Accurate and timely information provided through the elimination of paper work and manual data entry.
Comprehensive reporting, including failure trending for operational equipment, technician attendance and movement, testing results, actions taken and defect status.
Reduced equipment downtime through the rapid analysis of maintenance and repair data and subsequent elimination of catastrophic failures.
Quick and easy monitoring of regulatory compliance obligations.
Total visibility of all assets and associated maintenance activities.