Generac to buy smart thermostat company ecobee
Generac Holdings Inc. keeps expanding its role in the clean energy / smart home market, today acquiring ecobee Inc. in a transaction valued up to $770 million contingent on the achievement of certain performance targets. A pioneer in the smart thermostat market, ecobee currently offers several ENERGY STAR-certified thermostats and a suite of home monitoring products.
“ecobee’s solutions are an important addition to Generac’s extensive residential energy technology portfolio,” said Aaron Jagdfeld, president and chief executive officer of Generac. “Residential HVAC systems represent the largest energy-consuming device in the home today and ecobee’s smart thermostats and sensors offer the most intelligent way to balance comfort with conservation”
Founded in 2007 and headquartered in Toronto, Canada, ecobee has a team of over 500 employees globally and over two million connected homes. Its smart thermostats optimize heating and cooling systems to deliver energy savings for homeowners. ecobee customers in North America have saved more than 20 TWh of energy.
“In addition, the ability to combine ecobee’s cutting-edge technologies with Generac’s power generation, energy storage and energy management devices will allow us to create a clean, efficient, and reliable home energy ecosystem that will not only save homeowners money, but also help grid operators meet the challenges of an electrical grid under enormous stress by providing solutions to better balance supply and demand,” Jagdfeld continued.
“Generac’s evolution into an energy technology solutions company creates many opportunities to integrate our ecobee products with their residential device offerings, enabling direct monitoring and control of a significant portion of the home’s electrical load,” said Stuart Lombard, founder and chief executive officer of ecobee. “We are excited to join the Generac team so together we can deliver a cleaner, more resilient and sustainable energy future for our customers and communities.”
At closing and subject to customary adjustments, Generac will pay $200 million in cash along with $450 million in GNRC common stock to the current equity holders of ecobee. Additionally, upon achievement of certain performance targets between closing and June 30, 2023, the sellers may receive up to $120 million in additional shares of GNRC common stock.
The acquisition is expected to close during the fourth quarter, subject to customary closing conditions, including clearance under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act.
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