Disclosure
TradeVulcan develops and sells software for home-service contractors and publishes TradeVulcan Dispatch. TradeVulcan has no reported financial relationship with SPX Technologies, FIS Water, Neptronic or the brands discussed in this article. The approximately $840 million combined acquisition-spend figure and approximately $180 million combined annual-revenue figure are Dispatch arithmetic based on SPX's disclosed transaction consideration and revenue figures for FIS Water and Neptronic; they are not company-reported combined metrics. The simple purchase-price-to-revenue ratios discussed below are not enterprise-value multiples and should not be treated as directly comparable valuation measures.
What changed — the $410 million FIS Water deal is closed, not pending
SPX Technologies announced after the market close on September 15 that it had completed the acquisition of Fresno, California-based FIS Water, LLC, including certain tax attributes, for approximately $410 million in cash. FIS Water has already joined SPX's HVAC segment and is operating within the company's Cooling platform.
SPX says FIS Water is expected to generate approximately $105 million of revenue in 2026 and employs about 120 people. The portfolio includes LAKOS, Puroflux, Superior, VAF and VSI, with products used to remove solids, maintain water quality and control water flow in commercial and industrial cooling systems.
The transaction comes less than two months after SPX completed its approximately $430 million acquisition of Montreal-based Neptronic, a roughly $75 million-revenue HVAC controls and thermal-management business. Together, the two disclosed purchase prices total about $840 million by Dispatch arithmetic.
The acquisition target is not just a manufacturer. SPX is assembling more of the cooling-system stack.
FIS Water fits beside SPX's cooling-tower business rather than simply adding another unrelated product line. SPX says the companies overlap across customers, engineering specifications and sales channels, while FIS Water's valves and actuators complement the Neptronic controls portfolio acquired in July.
That makes the sequence more interesting to contractors than either deal alone. Cooling equipment, water quality, filtration, flow control, valves, actuators, humidification and intelligent controls increasingly meet on the same commercial and mission-critical project. SPX is spending heavily to own more of those engineered touchpoints.
The timing is equally important. In its second-quarter results, SPX said higher cooling-equipment volumes were being driven primarily by data-center demand. Its June-quarter HVAC backlog was $918.8 million, up from $539.5 million a year earlier, while the company raised estimated annual data-center revenue capacity to approximately $1.1 billion once its expansion projects are at full production.
For mechanical contractors, the practical question is not whether consolidation is good or bad in the abstract. It is whether more products begin traveling through the same specifications, reps, channels, controls architecture, commissioning requirements and service relationships—and whether contractors are ready for that integration.
What contractors should know
- SPX completed the FIS Water acquisition for approximately $410 million in cash, including certain tax attributes; the business is now part of SPX's HVAC segment and Cooling platform.
- FIS Water is expected to generate about $105 million in 2026 revenue and has approximately 120 employees in Fresno, California.
- The acquired portfolio includes LAKOS, Puroflux, Superior, VAF and VSI, covering water management, filtration, water quality, valves and flow-control applications used in commercial and industrial cooling.
- SPX completed the approximately $430 million acquisition of Neptronic on July 23. Neptronic generates roughly $75 million in annual revenue and adds intelligent controls, electric duct heaters, humidifiers, actuators and valves.
- The two deals represent roughly $840 million of disclosed cash consideration for businesses with approximately $180 million of combined disclosed annual revenue, based on Dispatch arithmetic.
- SPX's HVAC backlog was $918.8 million at June 27, 2026 versus $539.5 million a year earlier; management has said data-center demand is a major driver of cooling growth.
- For contractors, watch specification packages, rep and distributor relationships, controls integration, commissioning responsibility, water-treatment scope and aftermarket service opportunities as the portfolio is integrated.
SPX's cooling-and-controls acquisition scorecard
- FIS Water purchase
- $410M
- FIS Water 2026 revenue
- ~$105M
- FIS Water employees
- ~120
- Neptronic purchase
- ~$430M
- Neptronic annual revenue
- ~$75M
- Two-deal spend
- ~$840M
- HVAC backlog
- $918.8M
- Data-center revenue capacity
- ~$1.1B
Approximate cash consideration, including certain tax attributes.
SPX estimate.
Headquartered in Fresno, California.
CA$605M translated by SPX at announcement.
SPX disclosure at closing.
Dispatch arithmetic: $410M + $430M.
June 27, 2026; up from $539.5M a year earlier.
SPX estimate once planned capacity is at full production.
$410 million for $105 million of revenue is a clue about what SPX values—but not a clean valuation multiple
Dividing the disclosed $410 million cash consideration by FIS Water's expected $105 million of 2026 revenue produces a simple ratio of about 3.9 times revenue. That is useful only as a rough scale indicator. SPX explicitly says the consideration includes certain tax attributes, and it did not disclose FIS Water's EBITDA in the acquisition release, so the figure should not be read as a conventional enterprise-value-to-sales multiple.
The July Neptronic transaction provides another signal. SPX paid CA$605 million, approximately US$430 million at announcement, for a company generating about $75 million of annual revenue. SPX did disclose that Neptronic's implied enterprise-value-to-EBITDA multiple was modestly above the upper end of its recently transacted 8x-to-12x range.
What matters operationally is the pattern: SPX is willing to deploy hundreds of millions of dollars for specialized HVAC businesses that bring engineered products, technical know-how, specification influence and established channel relationships. These are not commodity bolt-ons chosen only to add topline.
For a mechanical contractor, that should sharpen the distinction between selling equipment and owning expertise around the system. Products can be consolidated. A contractor's defensibility comes from understanding how the pieces interact, commissioning them correctly, diagnosing failures across boundaries and maintaining the customer relationship after startup.
Two closed HVAC acquisitions in less than two months
| Business | Closed | Cash consideration | Disclosed revenue | What it adds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Neptronic | July 23, 2026 | ~US$430M | ~US$75M annual | Intelligent controls, electric duct heaters, humidifiers, actuators and valves |
| FIS Water | Sept. 15, 2026 | ~US$410M | ~US$105M expected 2026 | Water management, solids removal, water quality, flow control, valves and actuators |
| Dispatch arithmetic | — | ~US$840M | ~US$180M | A broader controls-enabled cooling and water-management stack |
Why water management belongs in a cooling-platform M&A thesis
A cooling tower is not an isolated box. Water quality, solids loading, filtration, flow, valves, controls and maintenance practices affect system reliability and the condition of downstream equipment. SPX's own rationale for FIS Water is explicit: the products are designed to protect and optimize cooling systems by removing solids, maintaining water quality and controlling water flow.
That is especially relevant in large commercial and industrial work, where equipment may be selected through engineering specifications long before a contractor reaches the jobsite. SPX says FIS Water overlaps with its existing Cooling platform across customers, engineering specifications and sales channels. If that overlap deepens, one manufacturer can show up in more parts of the same basis-of-design conversation.
The contractor opportunity is therefore partly technical and partly commercial. Technicians who understand filtration, water chemistry boundaries, valve operation, controls sequences and heat-rejection performance can diagnose problems that do not fit neatly inside a single equipment warranty. Estimators who understand the combined scope can catch exclusions and coordination gaps before they become change-order fights. Service teams can turn water-management performance into recurring inspection and maintenance work.
None of that means SPX will automatically bundle every product or change every channel relationship. The company has said it intends to preserve FIS Water's brands and customer relationships. The point is that the ownership structure now makes deeper coordination possible.
The data-center boom explains why the cooling stack is attracting so much capital
SPX's second-quarter numbers put useful context around the transaction. HVAC revenue reached $480.6 million in the quarter, up 27.6% year over year. The company attributed organic growth in part to higher cooling-equipment volumes associated with increased data-center demand and higher throughput from capacity expansion.
The June-quarter Form 10-Q reported HVAC backlog of $918.8 million, up from $539.5 million a year earlier. At the same time, SPX raised its estimate of annual data-center revenue capacity to approximately $1.1 billion once its planned production capacity is fully operational.
That does not mean FIS Water's $105 million of expected revenue is all data-center revenue; SPX specifically describes the company as serving commercial and industrial cooling applications, including data centers. The useful inference is narrower: SPX is expanding its cooling platform while one of the platform's highest-growth end markets is consuming more cooling capacity and demanding more integrated thermal-management infrastructure.
Data centers also change the skill mix around mechanical work. Uptime requirements, controls integration, water-management strategy, redundancy, commissioning documentation and coordination with electrical and building-automation teams can matter as much as the physical installation. The companies that can execute across those interfaces move further upstream in the value chain.
Six places this can eventually show up in a contractor's P&L
What to monitor as SPX integrates the portfolio
| Contractor issue | Why it matters | What to watch |
|---|---|---|
| Specifications | More of the system can sit inside related product families | Basis-of-design language, approved equals, submittal packages and alternates |
| Distribution and reps | Channel overlap is part of SPX's stated strategic rationale | Line-card changes, stocking, territory coverage and technical support |
| Controls integration | Neptronic adds controllers, actuators and valves beside FIS Water flow-control products | Sequence-of-operations responsibility, points lists and interoperability |
| Commissioning | Water quality and flow can affect cooling-system performance | Startup checklists, acceptance criteria, trend data and responsibility boundaries |
| Service agreements | Water-management equipment creates recurring inspection and maintenance needs | Filtration, cleaning, valve inspection, water-quality coordination and documentation |
| Procurement risk | Manufacturer consolidation can simplify sourcing but also concentrate dependencies | Lead times, alternates, warranty paths and single-source exposure |
The near-term impact may be modest. FIS Water's brands already exist in the market, SPX says it intends to preserve their customer relationships, and integrations take time. Contractors should resist inventing pricing or distribution changes that the company has not announced.
But ownership changes can matter gradually. A common parent can coordinate sales coverage, bundle technical support, standardize specification efforts, cross-sell through OEM relationships and invest differently in product development. Those changes can alter which products show up first in an engineer's specification or which combination is easiest for a contractor to procure and support.
That is why the best response is observational rather than speculative. Track what changes in actual bids: approved manufacturers, rep involvement, submittal requirements, controls packages, startup assistance, stocking and lead times. If nothing changes, there is nothing to react to. If the portfolio starts appearing together, the contractor who notices early can train and price accordingly.
Mechanical-contractor checklist
- Search active estimates and service agreements for LAKOS, Puroflux, Superior, VAF, VSI and Neptronic so you know where the combined SPX portfolio already touches your book of business.
- Ask reps and distributors whether line cards, territory assignments, stocking policies or technical-support contacts are changing as the businesses integrate.
- On cooling-tower work, define who owns filtration, water-treatment coordination, valve operation, controls points and water-quality acceptance before startup.
- Train estimators to recognize when controls and water-management scope are buried in mechanical specifications rather than shown as separate equipment packages.
- Capture manufacturer lead times and approved alternates in the estimate so a late substitution does not erase margin through redesign or expedited freight.
- For mission-critical projects, price commissioning documentation, trend verification and cross-trade coordination as real labor rather than incidental closeout work.
- Look for recurring service opportunities around inspection, filtration, flow-control devices and system-performance documentation instead of treating the project as equipment-only revenue.
The Dispatch takeaway
The headline is a $410 million acquisition. The larger signal is that SPX has now spent roughly $840 million in less than two months on two specialized HVAC businesses that sit around the same mission-critical cooling system.
That capital is following a market where SPX's HVAC backlog has expanded sharply and data centers are driving cooling demand. The company is not only adding manufacturing capacity; it is adding the water-management and controls layers that influence whether cooling equipment performs as designed.
For contractors, the defensible position is not to bet on which manufacturer wins the consolidation cycle. It is to become the company that can install, integrate, commission and service the entire system even as the logos above the components change.
FAQ
Did SPX Technologies complete the FIS Water acquisition?
Yes. SPX announced on September 15, 2026 that it completed the acquisition for approximately $410 million in cash, including certain tax attributes. FIS Water has joined SPX's HVAC segment and Cooling platform.
What brands are part of FIS Water?
SPX identified LAKOS, Puroflux, Superior, VAF and VSI. The portfolio provides water-management and control solutions used primarily in commercial and industrial cooling applications.
Why does the article say SPX has spent about $840 million?
That is Dispatch arithmetic adding the approximately $410 million FIS Water consideration to the approximately $430 million Neptronic consideration disclosed by SPX. It is not a company-reported combined metric.
Is FIS Water mainly a data-center company?
SPX says FIS Water serves commercial and industrial cooling applications, including data centers. The article does not assume all or most FIS Water revenue comes from data centers.
What should HVAC and mechanical contractors watch next?
Watch actual changes in specifications, rep and distributor coverage, product availability, controls integration, startup support, commissioning requirements and aftermarket service—not hypothetical price or channel changes that SPX has not announced.
Methodology
Dispatch independently checked SPX Technologies' September 15 acquisition release, SPX's July 23 Neptronic acquisition release, the company's July 30 second-quarter earnings materials, its quarter-ended June 27 Form 10-Q, and current-day independent coverage before publication. The approximately $840 million two-deal spend and approximately $180 million combined disclosed revenue figures are Dispatch arithmetic using SPX's stated approximately $410 million FIS Water consideration, approximately $430 million Neptronic consideration, approximately $105 million expected 2026 FIS Water revenue and approximately $75 million annual Neptronic revenue. The approximately 3.9x FIS Water purchase-price-to-revenue figure is also Dispatch arithmetic and is labeled as a rough ratio rather than an enterprise-value multiple because SPX said the consideration includes certain tax attributes and did not disclose FIS Water EBITDA in the acquisition announcement. The article does not assume that all FIS Water revenue comes from data centers or predict specific pricing, distribution or product changes that SPX has not announced. Hero-image licensing was checked against the source page, which marks the photograph free to use under the Unsplash License; the image is labeled illustrative and is not represented as showing SPX, FIS Water, Neptronic or the transaction.
Sources
- SPX Technologies Announces Acquisition of FIS Water — SPX Technologies
- SPX Technologies Announces Acquisition of Neptronic — SPX Technologies / GlobeNewswire
- SPX Reports Second Quarter 2026 Results — Exhibit 99.1 — U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission / SPX Technologies
- SPX Technologies Form 10-Q for quarter ended June 27, 2026 — U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
- SPX Technologies Acquires Water Management Firm FIS Water For $410 Mln — RTTNews
- Industrial cooling towers on a rooftop — Unsplash