CoolIT Employees Share in $4.75 Billion Transaction
In March 2026, KKR announced the sale of CoolIT to Ecolab in a transaction valued at $4.75 billion. The deal highlights employee ownership in action, with hundreds of employees participating directly in the value generated during KKR’s investment.
Since KKR acquired CoolIT in 2023 through its Global Impact strategy, the company has scaled its operations, expanded its global footprint, and strengthened its leadership in advanced cooling technologies that enable more efficient, high-performance data centers. Its innovation has supported the rapid growth of AI and next-generation computing infrastructure.
With KKR’s support, CoolIT delivered meaningful operational progress and growth, driven by a strong ownership mindset, continued product innovation, and expanded relationships with hyperscale customers. Since 2023, the company has:
- Doubled its workforce, adding more than 300 jobs
- Expanded its manufacturing footprint to over 300,000 square feet and increased coolant distribution unit (CDU) capacity by 25x
- Positioned the business for projected ~4x revenue growth and ~10x EBITDA growth through 2026
Through the company’s employee ownership program, team members across the organization shared in the value created during KKR’s investment, reinforcing the firm’s commitment to the movement.
Following the sale, all 650 employees received cash payouts ranging from approximately one year to more than eight years of annual pay, marking a significant financial milestone for the workforce.
Watch the video below for highlights from announcement day and hear CoolIT and KKR team members reflect on their partnership and how an ownership-driven culture helped power the company’s growth.
Since 2011, KKR has supported portfolio companies in implementing broad-based employee ownership programs. To date, 87 KKR portfolio companies have awarded billions of dollars in equity to more than 200,000 non-senior management employees. KKR is also a founding partner of Ownership Works, a nonprofit dedicated to expanding access to employee ownership and increasing economic opportunity.
