The following is an excerpt from an article published on Fortune featuring CoolIT Systems and Ownership Works:
“600 mainly frontline workers of CoolIT Systems gathered under an immense tent for a highly anticipated town hall. Less than three years earlier, private equity colossus KKR had purchased CoolIT, and as it does for all its acquisitions, awarded equity to everyone. In this case, that meant employees from thermal mechanical engineers to security guards at the liquid cooling purveyor for big tech infrastructure. Five days earlier, these folks got the official word that KKR and its partner, the sovereign wealth investor of Abu Dhabi, were selling their employer to Ecolab, the industrial water treatment giant, for $4.75 billion, or around 18 times CoolIT’s roughly $270 million valuation when KKR took charge.
The employees knew they were shareholders and that a sale would trigger cash payouts for everyone, and the crowd was about to find out how much.”
Read the full article on Fortune.
