Vertiv buys a $2.6B path to AI power

Vertiv agreed to acquire UtilityInnovation Group for $1.45 billion in cash, with up to $1.15 billion more tied to EBITDA targets, extending its data-center power stack into microgrid controls and behind-the-meter architecture, the company’s announcement says. The deal is priced at about 13× expected 2027 EBITDA and is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2026. For operators tracking the $688 million per IT-gigawatt price of OpenAI’s Ohio lease, file the signal: time-to-power is becoming an acquisition category upstream of the server, not a utility-side footnote.