AI Data Center Cooling Leader Acquires CoolIT in $4.75 Billion Mega Deal

On March 20, Ecolab Inc. (NYSE: ECL) signed a definitive agreement to acquire CoolIT Systems, a high-growth liquid-cooling company, from private equity firm KKR in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $4.75 billion (about ₩6 trillion). With this deal, Ecolab intends to build its high-tech and data-center cooling business into an integrated fluid-management platform by combining its AI data-center liquid-cooling solutions with CoolIT’s hyperscaler and semiconductor customer network. CoolIT is projected to generate roughly $550 million in revenue over the next 12 months (around ₩700 billion). Ecolab forecasts that, one year after closing, the acquisition will lift the organic growth rate of its global water business by about 2 percentage points and overall company growth by roughly 1 percentage point, while contributing to adjusted EPS beginning in 2028. It also reaffirmed its 2026 adjusted EPS guidance—excluding acquisition effects—anticipating double-digit year-over-year growth.

Major brokerages, including RBC Capital and Stifel, have maintained “Outperform” and “Buy” ratings on Ecolab stock, citing enhanced growth prospects in its high-tech and AI cooling segment following the CoolIT deal, and set price targets near $300 per share. In response to energy-market volatility stemming from the Middle East conflict, Ecolab also announced it will implement a 10–14% energy surcharge globally, passing increased costs through to its customers.

Headquartered in St. Paul, Minnesota, Ecolab is a global leader in water, hygiene, and infection-prevention solutions, offering water-treatment and cleaning chemicals as well as digital monitoring services to industries such as hospitality, food and beverage processing, healthcare, industrial manufacturing, and energy. As AI adoption drives a surge in high-performance chip–powered data centers, the shift from air cooling to liquid cooling is accelerating. The global data-center liquid-cooling market is expected to grow from about $6.6 billion in 2025 at a compound annual growth rate of roughly 20% through the early 2030s.