Blackstone has entered into an agreement to acquire Flow Control Holdings (FCH), a supplier of engineered sanitary and high-purity flow-control components, from Audax Private Equity. Audax will retain a minority equity stake in the company following the transaction.
Flow Control Holdings, headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, serves critical applications across data center liquid cooling, food and beverage, and pharmaceutical markets. The company supplies engineered components designed for applications that require reliable flow management and high standards of performance.
The transaction will involve Blackstone Capital Partners and Blackstone Energy Transition Partners, the affiliated private equity funds entering into the acquisition agreement. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. FCH has developed a portfolio of products for the growing data center liquid-cooling market. Its offering includes precision-machined stainless-steel fittings, valves and strainers, along with hoses and custom-fabricated components.
These products are used by original equipment manufacturers and hyperscale data center operators in systems including coolant distribution units, in-row manifolds and secondary fluid networks. The investment comes as demand for liquid-cooling technologies continues to grow alongside the expansion of high-performance computing and artificial intelligence infrastructure. Blackstone said it plans to work with FCH’s management team and Audax to support the company’s capacity expansion plans.
Bilal Khan, Senior Managing Director at Blackstone, and Mark Zhu, Managing Director at Blackstone, said the investment is linked to increasing adoption of liquid cooling in advanced computing infrastructure, as well as continued demand from FCH’s food, beverage and pharmaceutical customers.
According to Blackstone, liquid cooling can provide greater energy efficiency than conventional air-cooling systems. The technology can help data centers improve power usage effectiveness, reduce carbon dioxide emissions and support increasingly demanding computing workloads.
FCH has invested significantly in expanding its position in the data center cooling market over the past four years, according to Scott Kerns, Chief Executive Officer of Flow Control Holdings. During Audax’s ownership, the company expanded its capabilities through investments in its workforce, production operations and distribution infrastructure. FCH also completed 10 acquisitions aimed at strengthening its presence across data center cooling, food and beverage, and pharmaceutical markets.
Audax will continue to work with Blackstone and the FCH management team as a minority investor following completion of the transaction. The acquisition is expected to provide FCH with additional support for its next phase of growth, particularly as demand increases for specialised liquid-cooling systems used in advanced data centers and AI computing infrastructure.
The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter, subject to customary closing conditions. Following completion, Blackstone, Audax and the FCH management team will work together on plans to expand manufacturing capacity and support the company’s growth across its core end markets.
