GE Vernova Will Pay $9 Billion for Trench Group and Its 11 High-Voltage Bushing Plants, With Close Set for Late 2027

News Power Electronics Solid State Transformers
Marin Holt
October 31, 2026
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7 minutes read

Purchase price: $9.0 billion
Valuation: 13x 2028 adjusted EBITDA before synergies
Trench backlog and framework agreements: about $5 billion
Trench footprint: 11 manufacturing sites, more than 3,000 employees
Expected close: late 2027

GE Vernova signed an agreement on October 28, 2026 to buy Trench Group from investment firm Triton Partners for $9.0 billion. The Cambridge, Massachusetts company announced the deal alongside its third quarter results. Trench makes high-voltage and medium-voltage bushings, instrument transformers and coils. It runs 11 manufacturing sites across Europe, North America and Asia. It has more than 3,000 employees and serves more than 800 utilities and hyperscalers. GE Vernova expects the purchase to close in late 2027, after regulatory approvals and consultation with employee representatives.

The price equals 13 times Trench’s projected 2028 adjusted EBITDA before synergies. GE Vernova expects Trench to post $1.9 billion of revenue in 2028 at an adjusted EBITDA margin of about 36%. The company plans to fund the purchase equally with cash and debt. It held a $16.8 billion cash balance at the end of the quarter. Trench carries about $5 billion in backlog and framework agreements. Some of those reach into the next decade, chief executive Scott Strazik said.

Trench is already a GE Vernova supplier. The purchase folds it into the two largest businesses in GE Vernova’s Electrification segment, Grid Systems Integration and Power Transmission. GE Vernova said Trench components are present in the majority of high-voltage direct current lines built worldwide. Trench also offers SF6-free and mineral oil-free products, which the buyer said its customers increasingly ask for.

For North America, the deal brings Trench’s new facility in Charlotte, North Carolina. GE Vernova said manufacturing of 765 kV equipment there is expected to start in late 2027. T&D World reported the Charlotte plant is expected to become the first domestic producer of high-voltage transformer bushings up to 765 kV. The plant is expected to create up to 140 jobs. Trench opened the Charlotte site this year.

GE Vernova said higher voltage transmission lines carry up to six times more power per corridor than conventional lines. It said demand from data centers, renewable energy and industrial electrification is pushing grids toward them. The same quarter, the company reported orders of $29 billion, up 96% organically, and a backlog of $197 billion. GE Vernova raised its 2026 guidance for revenue, adjusted EBITDA margin and free cash flow.

Why It Matters

Bushings and instrument transformers are small parts of a substation with long lead times. A power transformer cannot ship without its bushings. The buyer is vertically integrating a component it already depends on. Utilities and transformer makers that buy from Trench today will buy from GE Vernova after the close. GE Vernova competes with some of them at the transformer and switchgear level.

The Charlotte date matters more than the deal price for US buyers. Domestic 765 kV bushing production in late 2027 lines up with the 765 kV lines that AEP, MISO and ERCOT plan for 2028 and later. The close is a year away. The $5 billion backlog is Trench’s figure, not GE Vernova’s. Regulators in Europe and the United States still have to clear the sale.

Critical Perspective

The $9.0 billion price is 13 times an EBITDA figure that Trench is projected to earn in 2028, a year after the deal is expected to close. The $1.9 billion revenue and 36% margin behind that multiple are GE Vernova projections, not reported results. The $5 billion backlog includes framework agreements, which are not firm orders. Trench already sells bushings and instrument transformers to GE Vernova’s transformer competitors, and the release does not say whether those customers keep the same access after the close. The Charlotte 765 kV production date of late 2027 was set before the deal and is unchanged by it. Regulators in several countries still have to clear the sale, which leaves a year in which Trench runs as a standalone supplier with a buyer waiting. Which Trench customers end up behind GE Vernova’s own transformer lines in the queue?