Vertiv will acquire UtilityInnovation Group for $1.45 billion to expand its utility-scale power and infrastructure capabilities.
Columbus, Ohio, Sept. 2, 2026 — Vertiv Holdings Co., a global leader in critical digital infrastructure, announced today that its wholly owned subsidiary, Vertiv Corporation, has entered into an agreement and plan of merger to acquire Utility Innovation Holdings, Inc., which operates as UtilityInnovation Group (UIG). UIG is a recognized leader in microgrid solutions, advanced power controls, and behind-the-meter power architecture design for data centers. The transaction values the acquisition at approximately $1.45 billion in cash at closing, with additional contingent consideration of up to $1.15 billion in cash tied to the achievement of specific EBITDA targets over 12- and 24-month periods.
At the base purchase price of approximately $1.45 billion, the deal values UIG at roughly 13 times its expected 2027 EBITDA. The effective multiple would drop significantly if the full earnout is realized. Vertiv anticipates the acquisition will be accretive to adjusted earnings per share in the first year post-closing. Strategically, the move extends Vertiv’s footprint upstream toward the grid interconnect, incorporating microgrid controls, onsite generation and energy storage orchestration, and behind-the-meter power architecture. These capabilities will enable data center operators to secure power more rapidly as grid constraints increasingly bottleneck AI infrastructure deployment.
As power availability grows increasingly critical to data center development, architectural decisions are shifting earlier in the planning cycle. Microgrid systems coordinate onsite generation and energy storage, reduce dependence on utility power, and can support the broader grid when required. Consequently, power architecture is gaining prominence during the earliest phases of site development, where early decisions carry substantial implications for downstream infrastructure.
“For AI data center operators, competitive advantage increasingly depends on how quickly they can move from site selection to first token,” said Gio Albertazzi, Chief Executive Officer, Vertiv. “Vertiv has the most complete power and cooling portfolio in the industry. With UIG, we anticipate extending that portfolio upstream to the utility interconnect and onsite power sources, creating a coordinated architecture from source to chip without tying customers to a single generation technology or supplier.”
Albertazzi continued: “Together, we anticipate being better positioned to support grid-connected sites, bridge-to-grid deployments and islanded sites supplied by onsite generation, while reducing complexity from site planning through rack-level deployment. This broader capability can help customers accelerate time to power and, ultimately, time to first token.”
UIG Founder and CEO Sidney Hinton added: “UIG was founded to solve increasingly complex power challenges for data center operators through flexible, technology-agnostic architectures. Vertiv’s global scale, critical infrastructure portfolio and service capabilities make it a strong strategic fit for what we have built. We believe this combination can expand the reach of UIG’s microgrid controls and power architecture expertise and create greater value for customers as power becomes an increasingly critical constraint on data center growth.”
Expanding Vertiv’s Onsite Power Capabilities
UIG’s expertise and technologies directly complement Vertiv’s existing offerings. Vertiv gains immediate experience in designing and deploying microgrid systems for AI data center operators across the United States and Europe, backed by extensive utility relationships and a track record in complex, large-scale projects. UIG’s generation-agnostic designs allow architectures to be tailored to the specific permitting, fuel, and financing realities of each site.
Additionally, UIG provides behind-the-meter power architecture design that engages clients at the earliest planning stages, prior to equipment selection. This approach enables Vertiv to help shape the foundational power blueprint that dictates downstream infrastructure decisions, leveraging pre-validated reference designs for grid-connected, bridge-to-grid, and islanded configurations. Technologically, UIG contributes a proprietary controls platform and pre-engineered microgrid switchgear capable of orchestrating multiple power sources in real time and synchronizing them with the critical power train.
Vertiv currently delivers deep systems and controls expertise across the critical power train, underpinned by an end-to-end power and cooling portfolio and a global service network. Integrated with UIG, Vertiv aims to help customers design and deploy unified power architectures that enhance speed, resiliency, efficiency, and operational flexibility. Anticipated benefits for customers and operators include faster power access with reduced reliance on utility interconnection timelines, the ability to scale site capacity beyond grid limitations, and a single point of accountability spanning from the grid interconnect to the rack level. Collectively, these capabilities will provide customers with greater agility in sourcing, managing, and scaling power as data center demands continue to evolve.
About Vertiv
Vertiv (NYSE: VRT) integrates hardware, software, analytics, and ongoing services to ensure customers’ vital applications run continuously, perform optimally, and scale with business needs. The company addresses the most pressing challenges facing modern data centers, communication networks, and commercial and industrial facilities with a comprehensive portfolio of power, cooling, and IT infrastructure solutions and services that spans from the cloud to the network edge. Headquartered in Westerville, Ohio, Vertiv operates in more than 130 countries. For more information, including the latest news and content, visit Vertiv.com.