Global investment firm KKR is expanding its impact-focused investment strategy by acquiring a data centre cooling-solutions provider.
KKR is buying CoolIT Systems, a manufacturer of liquid cooling solutions for an undisclosed amount.
KKR said it is investing to help CoolIT scale its business and serve its global customers across the data centre market, including the enterprise, high-performance computing, and cloud service provider segments as well as in desktop computing.
Kyle Matter, MD and head of KKR’s global impact team in North America, said KKR has committed more than $17bn (€15.4bn) to digital infrastructure since 2011 and “deeply appreciate the mission-critical role that it plays in enabling our economy”.
Matter added: “We also recognise that as a society we are grappling with the enormous energy usage and related environmental impacts that are only expected to accelerate with the rise of AI and other high-performance applications.
“We believe that liquid cooling has a critical role to play in helping to reduce the emissions footprint of our digital economy and we are thrilled to back CoolIT, a leader in this space.”
Evan Kaufman, director at KKR, said, “By combining our manufacturing and decarbonisation expertise with CoolIT’s track record of product innovation, we expect to further scale its best-in-class direct liquid cooling solution to meet the anticipated demand for higher density, more energy efficient data centres.”
Steve Walton, CEO of CoolIT, said: “Our business has evolved tremendously over the past few years and today we are proud to be one of the most trusted providers of liquid cooling solutions to the global data centre market.
“KKR shares our perspective on the significant opportunity ahead for liquid cooling. Having access to KKR’s expertise, capital and resources will put us in an even better position to keep scaling, innovating and delivering for our customers.”
CoolIT was founded in 2001.
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