Alternative asset manager Blackstone has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Flow Control Holdings (FCH), a US-based supplier of engineered flow control components for data centre liquid cooling, food, beverage, and pharmaceutical applications, from Audax Private Equity.
Under the terms of the agreement, funds affiliated with Blackstone Capital Partners and Blackstone Energy Transition Partners will acquire the controlling interest in FCH, while Audax Private Equity will retain a minority equity stake alongside company management. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, FCH manufactures engineered components utilized by original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and hyperscalers within coolant distribution units (CDUs), in-row manifolds, and secondary fluid networks. Because liquid cooling is significantly more energy efficient than traditional air cooling, the technology enables high-density data centres to achieve major operational emission reductions, lower power usage effectiveness (PUE) metrics, and reduce indirect Scope 2 carbon dioxide emissions associated with next-generation artificial intelligence workloads.
Key operational and financial details include:
- Growth and Emission Reduction Expansion: Blackstone plans to deploy capital to expand FCH’s production capacity to support rising demand for energy-efficient liquid cooling infrastructure that directly lowers emissions across global data centre networks.
- Historical Buy and Build Strategy: Under Audax’s ownership over the past four years, FCH expanded its market presence and manufacturing capabilities through organic capital investments and 10 strategic add-on acquisitions.
- Transaction Advisory and Closing: The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2026, subject to customary regulatory approvals. Houlihan Lokey and Jefferies served as financial advisors to FCH, while William Blair, UBS, and Goldman Sachs advised Blackstone.
Bilal Khan, Senior Managing Director at Blackstone, and Mark Zhu, Managing Director at Blackstone, stated: “We believe that FCH has enormous tailwinds for continued growth as the latest generations of high-performance AI infrastructure increasingly rely on liquid cooling technology for significantly improved energy and chip efficiency. FCH has built deep trust with their customers for some of the most demanding workloads across both the data center and food, beverage, and pharmaceutical markets. We look forward to partnering with Scott and the entire FCH management team, as well as Audax, to invest in the company’s capacity expansion plan.”
Scott Kerns, Chief Executive Officer of FCH, added: “We’re thrilled to partner with Blackstone as we enter our next chapter of growth. Over the past four years, we’ve invested significantly to develop a leading position in the data center cooling market supporting our OEM customers and hyperscalers. Audax has been a tremendous partner supporting FCH through investments in the team, capital for new production and distribution facilities, and the execution of 10 acquisitions.”
Don Bramley, Partner at Audax Private Equity, commented: “We believe the sale of FCH represents a tremendous outcome for the incredibly dedicated and talented team at FCH as well as our investors. Scott and the entire team have been outstanding partners in building FCH as a leader in the data center cooling market.”
