ABB Expands Automation Offering with Rotork Acquisition

Leading automation supplier ABB announced that it has agreed to acquire Rotork plc, a provider of mission-critical intelligent flow control solutions and electric actuators. The transaction is expected to further strengthen ABB’s focus on electrification and automation and expand its Automation business area’s offering for large and complex infrastructure and industries.

Under the terms of the offer, each Rotork shareholder would be entitled to receive 503 pence in cash per Rotork share, representing a premium of around 60 percent over Rotork’s latest three-month average share price. The transaction implies an enterprise value of around $5.5 billion, reflecting an enterprise value-to-sales ratio based on 2025 actual results of around 5.3.

Strategic Fit

Rotork’s well-established positions in mission-critical flow control and instrumentation are highly complementary to ABB’s existing automation portfolio, and the acquisition is intended to strengthen ABB’s position at the field-device layer. ABB would benefit from an expanded automation offering, enhancing the control automation loop with intelligent field devices and software that continuously monitor and manage industrial processes for safer, more productive, and sustainable operations. The mix of ABB’s Automation business is also expected to improve through increased exposure to higher-margin products, services, and lifecycle revenues.

The Rotork business will likewise benefit from ABB’s global scale, market reach, service presence, and digital and technology capabilities. This is intended to facilitate accelerated growth in core and target segments, with a further opportunity to expand the installed-base service model and pursue additional lifecycle opportunities. The combination is intended to allow Rotork to accelerate the development of intelligent device diagnostics and asset management solutions using ABB’s digital platforms. Additionally, Rotork would be able to leverage ABB’s trusted customer relationships and market reach.

Upon closing, Rotork is expected to operate as a separate division under a strategic growth mandate within ABB’s Automation business area. This approach is in line with the ABB Way decentralized operating model, which emphasizes accountability, transparency, and speed in decision-making and execution.

Rotork recorded average annual organic revenue growth of 8 percent from 2022 to 2025 and serves segments including oil & gas, chemicals, process and industrial, data centers, and water and power. With 2025 revenues of around $1 billion and a 2025 adjusted operating profit margin of 24.6 percent, Rotork is expected to add around 3 percent to ABB’s revenues and be immediately accretive to ABB’s Operational EBITA margin. As part of ABB’s Automation business area, Rotork is also expected to add around 12 percent to the business area’s revenues, supporting its growth ambitions, and be immediately accretive to the business area’s Operational EBITA margin. ABB has no current plans to significantly change Rotork’s presence in the UK, which is expected to remain an important manufacturing and technology base for Rotork.

Timing and Approvals

The transaction will be implemented by way of a court-sanctioned scheme of arrangement under the U.K. Companies Act 2006. Rotork’s board of directors has unanimously approved the transaction and intends to recommend that its shareholders vote in favor of the transaction at an upcoming shareholders’ meeting.

The transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2027 and is subject to a vote by Rotork’s shareholders and customary regulatory approvals.

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