The SLB Kelvion acquisition deal, announced on 31 August 2026, will see the US oilfield services group pay $3.4bn in cash for the German heat-exchange specialist, while also assuming roughly $700m of Kelvion’s existing debt. The purchase is designed to expand SLB’s Data Center Solutions unit at a moment when demand for thermal management infrastructure is rising sharply.
Kelvion is currently owned by Apollo-managed funds, whose investment closed in January 2026, and by Triton-advised funds. SLB’s agreement covers both the majority Apollo stake and Triton’s minority holding. Completion is subject to standard closing conditions and regulatory clearance, with the transaction expected to close in the first half of 2027.
What Kelvion brings to the SLB Kelvion acquisition deal
Kelvion supplies cooling and heat-transfer technology across the data centre, energy and industrial sectors. Its product range spans heat pumps, renewables, carbon capture and processing applications. The company’s 2026 revenue is projected at roughly $2.3bn to $2.4bn, with adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of around $350m to $400m.
Data centres are Kelvion’s largest and fastest-expanding segment. Revenue from that market alone is forecast to reach $1.2bn to $1.3bn in 2026. According to Alpha Spread, AI-related infrastructure investment is a key driver behind that demand, as hyperscalers and cloud operators require increasingly sophisticated cooling solutions to manage the heat generated by high-density computing loads.
SLB calculated the purchase price at approximately 11 times Kelvion’s projected 2026 EBITDA before synergies, narrowing to roughly 8.5 times once expected annual run-rate synergies are included.
Financial targets and synergy expectations
SLB’s chief executive, Olivier Le Peuch, is pushing the combined business toward ambitious near-term financial targets. On a pro-forma basis, the merged data centre operations are expected to generate more than $2bn in revenue and roughly $300m in adjusted EBITDA during 2026, according to World Oil.
Looking further out, SLB has set a target of $4.5bn to $5bn in revenue and $700m to $800m in adjusted EBITDA for the combined data centre solutions business by 2028. The company anticipates around $120m in annual EBITDA synergies within three years of closing, driven by cost efficiencies and additional revenue.
SLB said the acquisition is expected to add to earnings per share and free cash flow per share within 12 months of closing.
The deal also reflects the trajectory of SLB’s existing Data Center Solutions unit. The company said the division has expanded at a compound annual growth rate above 90% across 2024 to 2026, with cumulative delivered capacity on track to exceed 2GW worldwide by year-end. SLB added that its modular manufacturing and offsite construction methods can lower onsite construction complexity and shorten time to operation by as much as 40%.
With completion pencilled in for the first half of 2027, the transaction now awaits regulatory review. SLB’s 2028 targets for the combined business give investors a clear marker against which to judge whether the $3.4bn price holds up.
