Water technology company Xylem announced Monday that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Sensus for approximately $1.7 billion in cash. Sensus has approximately 3,300 employees and major locations in the U.S., United Kingdom, Germany, Slovakia, and China. Nearly 70 percent of 2016 revenues were generated in the U.S.
Xylem will finance the all-cash transaction with the deployment of approximately $400 million of Xylem’s non-U.S. cash, new and existing credit facilities, and a combination of short- and long-term debt. There is no change to Xylem’s full-year 2016 adjusted earnings outlook. Xylem expects to maintain quarterly dividend payments to shareholders.
The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory review, including approval by the Federal Communications Commission of the transfer of certain spectrum licenses. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of this year.
“With Sensus, we will acquire a strategically valuable asset that will accelerate our ability to bring systems intelligence solutions to customers across the water and energy industries, establish a foundation for future growth and create significant shareholder value,” said Patrick Decker, Xylem president and chief executive officer. “This will be an important milestone in our strategy to move Xylem’s portfolio of solutions up the technology curve. The combination of Xylem’s world-class brands and products with Sensus’ leading-edge smart technologies will create a differentiated offering that will better meet our customers’ evolving needs, including greater energy efficiency, water conservation, and improved life-cycle costs.”
“Sensus has a very broad product portfolio in metering and is well positioned in the advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) segment,” continued Decker. “The AMI segment is growing at nearly twice the rate of the total metering space, driven in part by regulations and customers’ growing need for real-time data and reduced operational costs. Our expansive customer relationships will be able to extend the reach of Sensus’ products and technologies to new markets globally, particularly in emerging markets. As a combined company, we expect Xylem to grow faster and be more profitable.”
In addition to its strong presence in the smart water sector, Sensus generates approximately 24 percent of its revenues from sales to electric and gas utilities. The projected growth rate of smart metering, particularly AMI, is even higher in these sectors than in water, and Sensus is ideally positioned to capture that growth with its network-enabled solutions.
This move advances the company’s innovation strategy outlined at its Investor Day last year. Combining the advanced technology and R&D expertise and capabilities of both companies, Xylem expects improved delivery of solutions to customers, particularly in the area of advanced analytics across the water, wastewater and outdoor water sectors. Sensus’ network platform, FlexNet, can support many of Xylem’s connected product offerings and enable expansion into adjacent Internet of Things markets.
Xylem also sees natural opportunities to extend the company’s advanced data analytics platform, which provides actionable insights for customers, to Xylem products. Both platforms provide a foundation for future organic and inorganic growth opportunities.
