Ecolab (ECL) announced Friday it will acquire CoolIT Systems from private equity firm KKR for $4.75 billion in an all-cash deal, targeting the fast-growing liquid cooling market for AI data centers.
CoolIT designs and manufactures liquid cooling systems used by hyperscale and colocation data center operators. Its customer list includes Nvidia and AMD — two of the biggest names in AI chip manufacturing.
The deal gives Ecolab a direct line into the infrastructure side of the AI build-out. Data center operators are increasingly ditching traditional air cooling in favor of liquid-based systems, which handle higher chip densities and power loads far more effectively.
Ecolab CEO Christophe Beck said the acquisition “expands our role in serving the AI ecosystem” and positions the company as a partner to the world’s largest technology companies.
The $4.75 billion price tag represents 29 times CoolIT’s projected earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization over the next 12 months. Ecolab will fund the purchase through new transaction debt.
CoolIT is expected to generate around $550 million in sales over the next 12 months, according to Ecolab.
The company said the deal will accelerate its organic sales growth rate by 1% beginning one year after the deal closes.
Ecolab stock dipped roughly 1% to $256.23 in premarket trading on Friday. That kind of move on a big acquisition isn’t unusual — markets often take a moment to digest the price tag.
The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2026, subject to regulatory approvals.
Ecolab said the deal will be accretive to its adjusted diluted earnings per share by 2028.
For full-year 2026, Ecolab maintained its guidance for adjusted diluted EPS in the range of $8.43 to $8.63, excluding the impact of the CoolIT deal. That range is in line with analyst expectations of $8.49 per share, according to FactSet.
Ecolab also issued first-quarter 2026 guidance, forecasting adjusted EPS of $1.69 to $1.71, up from $1.50 in the same period a year earlier.
CoolIT’s technology focuses exclusively on liquid cooling for data centers. Ecolab sees the company’s hardware and thermal engineering as complementary to its own strengths in water treatment, chemistry, and digital monitoring.
Together, Ecolab says the combined business will offer a more complete solution for data center operators managing both cooling and fluid management needs.
KKR, which owned CoolIT through its managed funds, will exit the investment through the sale.
Ecolab projected that adding CoolIT will accelerate its organic growth rate by 1 percentage point, starting one year after the deal closes.
The deal is set to close in Q3 2026, and Ecolab expects it to be earnings accretive by 2028.
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