Wesco International announced plans to acquire data center facilities management service provider Ascent for $185 million, noting that the deal will enable it to provide engineering expertise and professional services spanning the entire lifecycle of data centers.
Ascent delivers solutions for mission critical data center operations and infrastructure, from “next-generation AI data center design and builds all the way through the operations and maintenance lifecycle,” Wesco said in an Oct. 31 news release. Services include liquid cooling design and implementation, repairs of critical systems, emergency services and management of third-party maintenance workflows, per the release.
Ascent also provides an integrated client dashboard through its Navigator platform designed to support critical data center infrastructure and facilities, Wesco said. The data center company has $115 million in trailing 12-month sales and a three-year sales compound annual growth rate of 30%, according to the release.
“This acquisition will allow us to further extend our end-to-end service offerings — including advanced liquid cooling solutions — in collaboration with our supplier and contractor partners to meet the demands of the rapidly growing data center market," Bill Geary, executive vice president and general Manager of Wesco Communications and Security Solutions, said in a statement.
Overall data center vacancy rates for primary markets fell to a record low of 2.8% in the first half of 2024, from 3.3% in the previous year, with nearly 80% of more than 3.87 gigawatts under construction in primary markets already preleased, according to a data center trends report by CBRE.
The agreement Wesco has signed to buy Ascent highlights a trend of record profits and boosted earnings for many service, systems and technology providers that have continued to lean into the burgeoning data center market.
CBRE, for example, has scaled its efforts to capitalize on the market, acquiring data center construction and operations company Direct Line Global in June. During CBRE’s third-quarter earnings call in October, its CFO Emma Giamartino noted that the acquisition would enhance CBRE’s capabilities in a rapidly expanding data center market, valued at approximately $30 billion, according to its estimates.
Meanwhile, JLL hired Kristen Vosmaer, former vice president of global operations at development firm GLP, to lead its Work Dynamics data center business. This move followed JLL’s agreement in May to acquire SKAE Power Solutions, a New-York based data center design and engineering firm that will enable the real estate services firm to provide new technical services and add depth to its existing offerings, the firm said.
In June, Johnson Controls formed a data center-focused organization, Global Data Center Solutions, focused on providing integrated solutions to data center customers. Johnson Controls’ data center vertical drove growth of more than 20% in its applied HVAC and controls business in its fourth fiscal quarter of 2024, facilitating an organic 10% year-over-year rise in sales, CFO Marc Vandiepenbeeck said on an earnings call Wednesday.
Data center exposure is currently about 10% of Johnson Controls’ revenue and “continues to grow faster than the rest of the portfolio with very solid double-digit growth sequentially at least for the foreseeable future,” Vandiepenbeeck said.
Honeywell and Schneider Electric also attributed strong earnings growth to their work in the vertical. Honeywell saw a 25% year-over-year growth in its building solutions segment, due in part to strong demand for data centers, CFO Greg Lewis said on an Oct. 24 earnings call.
To capitalize on the data center momentum, Schneider Electric announced an agreement to buy a 75% stake in data center cooling firm Motivair. The deal, slated to close in 2025, will “enhance our thermal management abilities to ensure we’re ready to meet all data centers,” Schneider Electric CFO Hilary Maxson said during the company’s third-quarter earnings call last week, pointing to an accelerated growth in the data center market.
HVAC companies are increasing their focus on data centers too. Trane Technologies reported a backlog of $7.2 billion, up $300 million from the end of 2023. The company attributed this growth in its commercial HVAC segment, which accounted for roughly 90% of its backlog, to particular strength in its data center vertical.
Another HVAC firm that saw significant growth figures during is Modine. The company ended its second 2025 fiscal quarter with a 102% year-over-year jump in data center sales, amid strong demand from hyperscale and colocation customers across North America.
Wesco said its acquisition of Ascent is expected to close in the fourth quarter, following customer regulatory approval.
