GE Vernova to Buy Trench Group for $9 Billion to Lock In Grid Bushings

GE Vernova said on Oct. 28, 2026 that it has signed an agreement to acquire Trench Group, a maker of high-voltage grid equipment, from the investment firm Triton Partners for $9.0 billion.

In its press release, GE Vernova put the price at 13 times Trench's 2028 adjusted EBITDA before synergies and said it expects to fund the purchase equally with cash and debt. The company said Trench expects $1.9 billion in revenue at an adjusted EBITDA margin of about 36% in 2028. Closing is expected in late 2027, subject to customary regulatory approvals and, where legally required, consultation with employee representatives.

The deal targets a part that is easy to overlook and hard to replace. Trench makes high- and medium-voltage bushings, instrument transformers and coils, according to the release. Bushings carry high-voltage current into and out of transformers, switchgear and substations. Engineering News-Record (ENR) reported that GE Vernova CEO Scott Strazik told investors on the Oct. 28 earnings call that the company sources most of its transformer bushings externally today and expects to buy a larger share from Trench factories after closing. Strazik said bushings are typically about 5% to 8% of a transformer's bill of materials.

Why Grid Equipment Lead Times Matter for Data Centers

ENR frames the deal around equipment shortages. A federal study cited by ENR found that a typical 100-MVA large power transformer takes 2.5 to three years to procure, and extra-high-voltage units can take up to five years. Bushings are among the components named as supply-constrained. GE Vernova said higher-voltage lines are increasingly the backbone of the system as grids face demand from data centers, renewables and industrial electrification, and that such lines carry up to six times more power per corridor than conventional ones.

For data-center developers waiting on a grid connection, a captive supply of bushings shortens one link in a long chain, but only once the deal closes and Trench adds capacity. Strazik said Trench has secured multiple hyperscaler agreements over the past two years, according to ENR. He also said GE Vernova accounts for only a small portion of Trench's roughly $1.4 billion in annual revenue, and a company spokesperson told ENR that GE Vernova will keep serving Trench's existing customers.

Trench by the Numbers: Factories, Backlog and the Charlotte Plant

GE Vernova said Trench has more than 3,000 employees, 11 manufacturing sites across Europe, North America and Asia, and more than 800 utility and hyperscaler customers. The company has about $5 billion in backlog and framework agreements, some reaching into the next decade, according to the release. ENR reported that about half of that total is covered by roughly 80 framework agreements that carry volume commitments. GE Vernova also said Trench components are present in the majority of high-voltage direct current (HVDC) lines built globally.

For North America, the release points to a newly opened Trench plant in Charlotte, North Carolina, where manufacturing of 765-kV equipment is expected to begin in late 2027. Trench told ENR the plant is designed initially for up to 3,500 high-voltage bushings a year, with room to reach 10,000. That timing lines up with the 765-kV build-out already under way, such as the 187-mile Iowa line in which MISO picked an Ameren-led group, and with HVDC transformer supply, which LS Electric is pursuing for a West Coast energy highway.

The purchase also feeds GE Vernova's Electrification segment. ENR reported that the segment's backlog reached $46.1 billion at the end of the third quarter, up 55% from a year earlier. Strazik said GE Vernova projects more than 55,000 U.S. transmission substations will need to be completely rebuilt or upgraded to higher voltages over the next decade. ENR also reported GE Vernova's estimate that the global high-voltage equipment market will grow about 8% a year, from roughly $90 billion in 2025 to $130 billion by 2030.

What Is Not Confirmed Yet

The deal has not closed. It still needs regulatory approvals, and the release does not name which regulators will review it. Trench's 2028 revenue and margin figures are GE Vernova's projections, not audited results. The release gives the price in U.S. dollar equivalents at a EUR/USD rate of 1.12, so the final dollar amount may differ with the exchange rate at closing.

Neither company has said whether supply terms or pricing for Trench's existing customers will change. A GE Vernova spokesperson's statement to ENR that it will keep serving them is the only commitment so far. Readers tracking transformer and bushing lead times should watch the regulatory filings and the pace of the Charlotte ramp-up through 2027.