◆ THE EXCHANGE · M&A
SLB agrees to buy a German heat-management firm for $4.1bn
SLB has signed an agreement to acquire Kelvion, a German maker of industrial heat exchangers and data-centre cooling systems, from Apollo and Triton funds for $3.4bn in cash plus $0.7bn in assumed debt. It is signed, not closed; regulatory approvals are still outstanding.
Chandni Melwani
Founder & Editor
Aug 31, 2026 · 2 MIN READ
The News
SLB announced on August 31, 2026 that it has signed an agreement to acquire Kelvion, a Herne, Germany-based thermal-management company, from Apollo-managed funds (majority stake) and Triton-advised funds (minority stake) for $3.4bn in cash and approximately $0.7bn of assumed debt, a total enterprise value of roughly $4.1bn, or about 11 times Kelvion's estimated 2026 adjusted EBITDA before synergies. The two sides word it differently: SLB's release says it 'has signed an agreement to acquire Kelvion,' while Apollo's describes a 'definitive agreement' to acquire 100% of Kelvion. The seller uses the firmer term; the buyer does not. Either way, the transaction is subject to regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions, and is expected to close in the first half of 2027. No money has changed hands.
Know More
- — Kelvion 2026 expected figures (not audited results): revenue of $2.3bn–$2.4bn; adjusted EBITDA of $350m–$400m. Data-centre cooling is Kelvion's largest and fastest-growing segment, at an expected $1.2bn–$1.3bn of that revenue.
- — Pro forma combined data-centre revenue for SLB plus Kelvion in 2026: more than $2bn, with approximately $300m in adjusted EBITDA, according to SLB's release. On SLB's existing data-centre business, SLB's release says delivered capacity is 'expected to surpass 2 gigawatts cumulatively by the end of the year'; Apollo's release is the one that adds the word 'globally.'
- — Synergy target: approximately $120m in annual EBITDA within three years, from cost efficiencies and incremental revenue. SLB expects the deal to be accretive to both earnings per share and free cash flow per share in the first 12 months following closing (per share on both metrics, the wording the release uses).
- — 2028 combined data-centre targets given by SLB: $4.5bn–$5bn in revenue and $700m–$800m in adjusted EBITDA.
- — Regulatory approvals required: SLB's release says 'customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals' and names no specific jurisdictions.
- — Geographic breakdown of Kelvion's data-centre revenue is not disclosed in either primary release.
SLB announced on August 31, 2026 that it has signed an agreement to acquire Kelvion, a Herne-based German maker of industrial heat exchangers, for $3.4bn in cash plus $0.7bn in assumed debt, a total enterprise value of $4.1bn. Apollo-managed funds held the majority stake; Triton-advised funds held a minority and are also selling. The deal is signed and it is not closed. Apollo’s release calls it a “definitive agreement”; SLB’s says it “has signed an agreement to acquire Kelvion.” Closing is expected in the first half of 2027, subject to regulatory approvals that have not been granted.
Kelvion builds the hardware that moves heat away from servers, the machinery that sits between the compute load and the atmosphere. Its data-centre segment is its largest and fastest-growing, at an expected $1.2bn–$1.3bn of the company’s projected $2.3bn–$2.4bn in 2026 revenue, against an expected $350m–$400m in adjusted EBITDA. All of those are 2026 projections, not audited results. Combined with SLB’s own data-centre business, pro forma data-centre revenue for the pair would exceed $2bn in 2026, with 2028 targets of $4.5bn–$5bn in revenue and $700m–$800m in adjusted EBITDA, according to SLB’s release. SLB expects about $120m in annual EBITDA synergies within three years, and says the deal will be accretive to earnings per share and free cash flow per share in the first 12 months after closing.
Kelvion’s own film of a liquid-cooled deployment for the data-centre operator Hash House, published on its channel in April 2026. It shows the product line SLB is buying. It was made four months before the acquisition and does not mention SLB or the deal.
Both releases describe SLB as “a global technology company that has driven energy innovation for 100 years.” The company was Schlumberger, which spent a century selling drilling and reservoir technology to oil and gas producers, until it rebranded as SLB in October 2022. The August 2026 deal prices that repositioning at $4.1bn. This site covered the physical limits squeezing Gulf data-centre builds on August 20: transformers then, cooling now, the same bottleneck logic applying anywhere AI compute is being built.
This one prices heat.
Related
Room for Disagreement
SLB is pricing heat as a constraint, and the constraint argument only holds if the data-centre cooling market stays as tight as it looks. A sceptic would note that Kelvion's $4.1bn price tag is built on 2026 revenue projections, not audited results, and that the 2028 targets SLB has published assume significant share in a category that every hyperscaler and cooling specialist is now chasing. If the AI-build pace moderates, or if thermal management commoditises faster than expected, the 11x multiple looks stretched. SLB has a different kind of answer: it brings an existing data-centre revenue base, an existing customer network, and procurement relationships built over a century in energy. The claim is that it can deliver something the market cannot easily replicate, not merely that it is buying into a hot one.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is SLB, and why is it buying a cooling company?
SLB is the company that was Schlumberger until it rebranded in October 2022. For most of its history it sold reservoir characterisation, drilling and production technology to oil and gas producers. It does not describe itself that way here: both releases announcing this deal call SLB 'a global technology company that has driven energy innovation for 100 years,' with a footprint in more than 100 countries. The Kelvion deal extends an argument SLB has been making: its engineering in thermal management and power systems translates from energy facilities to compute facilities. Kelvion adds a purpose-built heat-exchanger product line and a position in data-centre cooling.
Is this deal closed?
No. SLB's release says it 'has signed an agreement to acquire Kelvion'; Apollo's release calls it a 'definitive agreement.' The transaction still requires regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions, and SLB expects to close in the first half of 2027. No cash has moved and Kelvion remains under its current ownership until then.
What does Kelvion actually make?
Kelvion makes heat exchangers and thermal-management systems for industrial and commercial applications. Its data-centre products handle the cooling load that prevents servers from throttling or failing. The heat that compute generates has to go somewhere, and Kelvion's hardware is the machinery that moves it. Data-centre cooling is now the company's largest revenue line, ahead of its industrial segments, at an expected $1.2bn–$1.3bn of its projected $2.3bn–$2.4bn total revenue in 2026.
Sources
- SLB press release via BusinessWire, 'SLB to Acquire Kelvion, Expanding its Role Across Data Center Infrastructure,' August 31, 2026. Primary source for all SLB-side figures, the 'has signed an agreement' wording, and the corporate self-description.
- Apollo IR release, 'Apollo Funds Agree to Sell Kelvion, a Global Leader in Cooling Solutions for Data Centers and Diversified Industrials, to SLB for $4.1 billion.' Seller-side confirmation of deal structure, seller identities, and total enterprise value.
- SLB, 'Schlumberger Becomes SLB, a Technology Company Driving the Future of Energy,' October 24, 2022. The rebrand and the self-description that replaced oilfield services.
- New in AI, 'Gulf AI data centres hit the global transformer queue,' August 20, 2026. Prior coverage of physical constraints on the AI build, including transformer and power bottlenecks.
Chandni Melwani
Chandni Melwani is the founder and editor of New in AI, covering AI agents, M&A, and enterprise adoption. She holds a Master's in Management of Artificial Intelligence from Queen's University and brings a practitioner's perspective from her work in Data and AI leadership.
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