GE Vernova to Acquire Trench Group from Triton Partners for $9.0 Billion
Trench Group makes bushings, instrument transformers and coils for high-voltage grids. Image credit: Trench Group.
Key Points
- GE Vernova (NYSE: GEV) signed an agreement on October 28, 2026 to acquire Berlin-based Trench Group from Triton Partners for $9.0 billion.
- The price equals 13x Trench’s forecast 2028 adjusted EBITDA before synergies, and GE Vernova plans to fund it with equal parts cash and debt.
- Trench makes bushings, instrument transformers and coils, and already supplies GE Vernova’s Electrification segment.
- GE Vernova forecasts Trench revenue of $1.4 billion in 2026 and $1.9 billion in 2028, at an adjusted EBITDA margin of about 36% in 2028.
- Closing is expected in late 2027, subject to regulatory approvals and consultation with employee representatives where legally required.
Deal Overview
GE Vernova announced on October 28, 2026 that it had signed an agreement to acquire Trench Group, a global supplier of high-voltage grid equipment, from investment firm Triton Partners. GE Vernova will pay $9.0 billion in U.S. dollar equivalent at closing.
Trench designs and manufactures bushings, instrument transformers and coils for high- and medium-voltage grids. It is an existing supplier to GE Vernova, and the company said the purchase vertically integrates that supplier into its Electrification segment, with Grid Systems Integration and Power Transmission, its two largest Electrification businesses, the direct beneficiaries.
GE Vernova disclosed the transaction alongside its third quarter 2026 results, on an extended earnings call.
Transaction Terms
The purchase price is stated in U.S. dollar equivalents at a EUR/USD rate of 1.12, so the amount paid at closing may differ with the exchange rate then prevailing. GE Vernova said it currently expects to fund the price equally with cash on hand and new debt.
| Term | Details |
|---|---|
| Acquirer | GE Vernova Inc. (NYSE: GEV) |
| Target | Trench Group (headquartered in Berlin, Germany) |
| Seller | Triton Partners |
| Purchase price | $9.0 billion USD equivalent, payable at closing (EUR/USD 1.12) |
| Funding | Currently expected to be equal parts cash and debt |
| Valuation | 13x 2028 adjusted EBITDA (non-GAAP), before synergies |
| Expected closing | Late 2027 |
| Conditions | Customary regulatory approvals; consultation with employee representatives where legally required |
| Advisors to GE Vernova | Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC and UBS Investment Bank (financial); Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP (legal) |
| Advisors to Triton Partners | Bank of America and Morgan Stanley & Co. International plc (financial); Latham & Watkins (legal) |
The 13x multiple uses 2028 as the reference year because it is the first full year in which GE Vernova expects Trench to be included in its results, given the late 2027 closing.
Strategic Rationale
CEO Scott Strazik said that at the start of 2025 GE Vernova saw two assets of scale as necessary in Electrification. The first was Prolec GE, which expanded its North American manufacturing footprint. The second was Trench, for its technology, management team and the importance of its components in solutions GE Vernova already delivers.
— Scott Strazik, CEO, GE Vernova“Trench’s differentiated high-voltage grid technology, strong execution, and deep customer relationships are key enablers of the modernized, resilient grid required to keep pace with the electricity supercycle.”
Strazik gave two measures of how much of GE Vernova’s own equipment Trench supplies. Bushings are generally 5% to 8% of the bill of materials of a transformer. For the Barmer HVDC project in India, which GE Vernova said will be a $1.5 billion order in the fourth quarter of 2026, Trench’s bushings, instrument transformers and coils together make up about 10% of the bill of materials. GE Vernova is a very small part of Trench’s $1.4 billion of 2026 revenue, he said, although it already buys across all three product lines.
— Scott Strazik, CEO, GE Vernova“Today we source most of our bushings externally, but tomorrow we will be able to internalize this key technology within the Trench facilities and better serve our customers with improved cycle time and integrated performance as we continue to invest in this business.”
Bushing
A bushing is the insulated component that carries a conductor through the grounded wall of a transformer or other high-voltage equipment, providing electrical insulation and mechanical support. Strazik said customers often specify the bushing supplier for large transformers, which is why he expects Trench’s customer loyalty to pull more GE Vernova transformer volume.
GE Vernova sized the high-voltage equipment market it can address at about $90 billion in 2025, rising at roughly 8% a year to about $130 billion in 2030. The estimate draws on BloombergNEF, International Energy Agency and internal GE Vernova figures, and sits within a $300 billion Electrification addressable market the company projects for 2030.
Trench Group Profile
Trench has more than 130 years of engineering history, more than 3,000 employees and 11 factories in 8 countries across Europe, North America and Asia. It serves more than 800 utilities and hyperscalers, and GE Vernova said Trench has secured multiple hyperscaler agreements over the past two years. Since becoming independent in April 2024, Trench has doubled its annual revenue to more than EUR 1 billion.
| Product line | Trench 2026E revenue | GE Vernova 2026E revenue, same lines |
|---|---|---|
| Bushings | $0.6B | $0.1B |
| Instrument transformers | $0.5B | $0.2B |
| Coils | $0.3B | $0.1B |
| Total | $1.4B | $0.3B |
Trench bushings reach voltages of up to 1,200 kV, and the company said its components are present in the majority of high-voltage direct current lines built globally. It also supplies SF6-free and mineral-oil-free technologies, and GE Vernova described it as the leader in dry-type bushings.
In North America, Trench has opened a facility in Charlotte, North Carolina. GE Vernova said it will be the first U.S. manufacturer of high-voltage bushings up to 765 kV, with 765 kV manufacturing expected to begin in late 2027.
— Dr. Bahadir Basdere, President and CEO, Trench Group“GE Vernova’s global scale, customer relationships, and footprint in key growth regions will offer more market participants access to the high-voltage components that the energy transition demands.”
Financial Profile and Funding
The figures below are GE Vernova’s forecasts of Trench as a standalone business, prepared from data Trench provided and under Trench’s accounting policies. They exclude synergies, integration costs and purchase price accounting adjustments.
| Forecast ($B) | 2026E | 2027E | 2028E |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | 1.4 | 1.6 | 1.9 |
| Adjusted EBITDA* | 0.5 | 0.6 | 0.7 |
| Adjusted EBITDA margin* | ~33% | ~35% | ~36% |
| Free cash flow* | 0.2 | 0.3 | 0.4 |
Non-GAAP Measures
Adjusted EBITDA and free cash flow (marked *) are non-GAAP measures. GE Vernova did not provide a reconciliation to GAAP figures for Trench, citing the uncertainty of capital expenditure timing, exchange rates and the conversion of Trench’s accounting to U.S. GAAP.
CFO Ken Parks said Trench had about $5 billion in combined backlog and framework agreements as of September 2026. GE Vernova’s presentation puts $2.6 billion of that in backlog, and about 80 framework agreements, some extending into the 2030s, account for roughly half of the total. He said revenue growth is supported by planned capacity expansions, with most of the capital spending to be completed before closing.
On funding, GE Vernova expects to issue about $4.5 billion of debt, at annual interest cost of about $0.2 billion, and to keep debt to adjusted EBITDA below 1x and an investment-grade balance sheet. The company ended the third quarter of 2026 with about $17 billion in cash. It also said its board raised the share repurchase authorization from $10 billion to $20 billion alongside the acquisition.
GE Vernova said it expects annualized cost synergies of about $50 million to $100 million by 2030, from combined manufacturing methods including automation and robotics, lean practices, joint sourcing and best-cost locations. It did not quantify revenue synergies, but pointed to North American utilities and hyperscalers, and to its commercial presence in India, Southeast Asia and the Middle East. It said the transaction is accretive before synergies.
Timeline and Conditions
The agreement, announced October 28, 2026, is pending. GE Vernova expects it to close in late 2027, subject to customary regulatory approvals and, where legally required, consultation with employee representatives. The company did not name specific regulators or disclose a termination fee in the materials reviewed.
Its forward-looking statements list the risks to completion: delays in closing, regulatory approvals that are withheld or carry conditions, the outcome of employee consultations, unmet closing conditions, and termination of the agreement. Management said it expects the integration of Prolec GE to be substantially complete before the Trench closing.