Ecolab makes $1.8B deal to help expand its business with AI data centers, semiconductor industry

Ecolab is spending $1.8 billion for a high-tech business that purifies water for data centers and semiconductor operations.

The St. Paul-based company’s deal is for Montreal-based Ovivo Inc.’s electronics division, which has about $500 million in annual revenue and 900 employees.

“Ovivo Electronics’ unique technologies deliver the world’s purest water, which is essential for manufacturing today’s most advanced microchips,” said Christophe Beck, Ecolab’s chief executive, in a news release.

The slightest amount of contaminants can ruin products for semiconductor manufacturers, so they must have ultra-pure water. The water also is becoming more and more important to how AI data centers run.

Ecolab will integrate the advanced technologies from Ovivo with its own global solutions for water and digital services.

Ecolab is leaning into the water solutions unit. It’s the company’s largest, producing more than half of the company’s overall sales of $16 billion.

Beck has set a goal of generating 20% operating income margins across its businesses by 2027, and the addition of Ovivo’s electronics business should match or exceed that target, the company said.

After the deal closes and the business is integrated into Ecolab, Beck said he expects the Ovivo business’ sales to grow more than 10%, with “attractive operating income margin.”

Morningstar analyst Seth Goldstein wrote in an investor note that Ecolab’s acquisition of the Ovivo business will add value.

“Ecolab’s water recycling and purification technologies can compete well in industries with high water-intensive processes,” Goldstein said.

St. Paul-based Ecolab does about $16 billion a year in annual revenue and has 48,000 employees providing water, hygiene, pest elimination and infection prevention solutions and services to more than 170 countries.

The divestiture by Ovivo will allow that company to concentrate on its wastewater treatment and other water purifications services.