GE Vernova agrees to buy grid-equipment maker Trench for $9 billion, lifts 2026 outlook

GE Vernova agreed on Oct 28 to buy Trench Group, a Berlin-based maker of high-voltage grid equipment, from investment firm Triton Partners for $9.0 billion. Trench already supplies GE Vernova.

GE Vernova announced the deal alongside its third-quarter results. Revenue rose 27% to $12.6 billion, and the company raised its 2026 forecasts for revenue, profit margin and free cash flow.

The Trench deal

GE Vernova will pay the $9.0 billion US dollar equivalent at closing and expects to fund it equally with cash and debt. The price is 13 times Trench's expected 2028 adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA), before synergies.

Trench makes high- and medium-voltage bushings, instrument transformers and coils. A bushing lets a power line pass into a transformer's metal tank without touching it; instrument transformers measure current and voltage, and coils help control the flow of power.

• Trench has more than 3,000 employees and 11 manufacturing sites across Europe, North America and Asia.
• Trench serves more than 800 utilities and hyperscalers, the companies that run the largest cloud and AI data centers.
• GE Vernova says Trench parts are in the majority of high-voltage direct current lines built worldwide.
• Trench carries about $5 billion in backlog and framework agreements, some running into the next decade.
• Triton says Trench passed €1 billion in revenue and €2 billion in order intake under its ownership.
• Trench expects 2028 revenue of $1.9 billion at an adjusted EBITDA margin of about 36%.

Trench will sit in GE Vernova's Electrification segment, adding to its two largest businesses there, Grid Systems Integration and Power Transmission. A newly opened Trench plant in Charlotte, North Carolina, is expected to start making 765-kilovolt equipment in late 2027.

Third-quarter results

Adjusted EBITDA was $1.9 billion, a margin of 15.4%. Gas turbine equipment backlog and slot reservation agreements grew to 122 gigawatts from 116 gigawatts. GE Vernova expects at least 130 gigawatts by the end of 2026 and a total backlog above $200 billion in the fourth quarter.

GE Vernova ended the quarter with $16.8 billion in cash. In October its board raised the share repurchase authorization to $20 billion from $10 billion, after $5.7 billion was returned to shareholders in the first nine months of 2026.

The raised 2026 outlook

What comes next

The Trench acquisition is expected to close in late 2027, subject to regulatory approvals and consultation with employee representatives where the law requires it. Until then, Triton says, the two companies operate independently.