The Rivarotta (Udine)-based company, which specialises in high-efficiency heat exchange solutions, is joining Vertiv to accelerate its international growth and strengthen its production capacity and expertise. The headquarters and its 320 employees will remain in Friuli.
ThermoKey S.p.A., a Friuli-based company specialising in the development and manufacture of high-efficiency heat exchange solutions, and Vertiv (NYSE, S&P 500), a global leader in critical digital infrastructure, announce the completion of Vertiv’s acquisition of ThermoKey, strengthening the portfolio of thermal management solutions for high-density data centre and artificial intelligence applications. The deal places the technology, which originated in Friuli-Venezia Giulia, at the heart of one of today’s most strategic industries: the one that keeps the servers running on which cloud computing, artificial intelligence and computationally intensive digital services operate.
By joining Vertiv, ThermoKey gains access to a global industrial and commercial network that will enable it to accelerate the growth and development of its products. The headquarters will remain in Rivarotta, the 320 employees will stay on, and Giuseppe Visentini, who has led the company since its relaunch in 2013, will continue to manage it, ensuring continuity for customers, partners and employees.
“For ThermoKey, this transaction represents a step forward and recognition of the work carried out over the years,” says Giuseppe Visentini, CEO of ThermoKey. “Since 2013, we have built a solid path of industrial growth based on technology, production capacity and people, and with Vertiv we have found the global scale to fully capitalise on this. With Vertiv, we are taking these capabilities to a global scale, whilst remaining in Friuli. Our responsibility now is to transform this new dimension into growth opportunities for the company, for our people and for the local area.”
The transaction comes at a time of profound market transformation. The growth of artificial intelligence is driving demand for ever-higher-capacity, compact and efficient data centres. The more powerful and densely packed servers become, the more critical thermal management becomes.
“Artificial intelligence infrastructure is growing at an unprecedented rate, and thermal management is now a critical factor in increasing computing capacity and efficiency,” says Giordano Albertazzi, CEO of Vertiv. “With ThermoKey, we are strengthening our ability to offer differentiated, integrated and high-performance heat exchange solutions that help customers deploy faster, operate more efficiently and grow with confidence.”
In recent years, ThermoKey’s development has been supported by IGI Private Equity, which has helped the company to accelerate investment in research and development, expand its production capacity and strengthen its organisation. During this period, ThermoKey has developed proprietary technologies for more efficient, resilient and sustainable cooling systems, including dry coolers and high-performance heat exchangers, also designed for natural refrigerants with low environmental impact.
“In recent years, ThermoKey, thanks in part to the support of IGI Private Equity, has accelerated its investment in R&D, strengthened its organisational structure and significantly expanded its production capacity,” said Angelo Mastrandrea, Partner at IGI Private Equity and Chairman of ThermoKey. “This journey has laid the foundations for the company to establish itself as a technology partner to major international players. The acquisition by Vertiv represents the natural evolution of the strategy we have pursued and marks the start of a new phase of industrial growth.”
For customers and partners, the integration will ensure operational continuity, greater industrial stability and a strengthened international presence. ThermoKey will continue to serve its markets with the technical, collaborative and quality-oriented approach that has characterised its growth, building on the relationships forged over time with OEMs, system integrators, customers and operators in the HVAC, refrigeration, process cooling and data centre cooling sectors.
For the region, the transaction reinforces Friuli-Venezia Giulia’s capacity to demonstrate advanced expertise in high-tech sectors. ThermoKey will continue to operate, innovate, design and manufacture reliable and efficient thermal management technologies at its Rivarotta site, helping to consolidate the region’s role as a leading centre for advanced manufacturing and engineering.
IGI Private Equity, which has supported ThermoKey’s growth in recent years, is divesting its stake in the company through this transaction.
About Vertiv
Vertiv (NYSE: VRT) is a global leader in critical digital infrastructure. The company integrates hardware, software, analytics and ongoing services to ensure that its customers’ vital applications run without interruption, at optimal performance and with the capacity to grow alongside their businesses. Vertiv supports data centres, communications networks, and industrial and commercial environments with a portfolio of power, cooling and IT infrastructure solutions and services that span from the cloud to the network edge. Headquartered in Westerville, Ohio (USA), Vertiv operates in over 130 countries.
Advisers to the transaction
The IGI Private Equity team, comprising Angelo Mastrandrea, Andrea Sironi and Giorgio Pivanti, acting on behalf of the funds under management, together with the other sellers, were advised by: DC Advisory as Financial Advisor, with a team comprising Giuliano Guarino, Alberto Tack, Giulio Goldoni and Sabino Vincitorio; Chiomenti as legal advisers, with a team comprising Luca Liistro, Arnaldo Cremona, Enrica Bertoldi, Giulia Berton and Francesca Andrisani; L&B Partners as tax advisers, with a team comprising Ottavia Alfano, Matteo Mairone, Maria Gabriella Terracciano and Filippo Maria Mariani; DV Studio Legale for administrative support to the Company, with a team comprising Robert Via and Stefania Cresci.