Vertiv, a United States-based provider of digital infrastructure equipment and services, said on Thursday it would acquire Great Lakes Data Racks & Cabinets for $200 million to strengthen its rack solutions portfolio.
Founded in 1985 and headquartered in Edinboro, Pennsylvania, Great Lakes designs and manufactures standard and customised racks, seismic cabinets and cable management systems used in data centres. It operates manufacturing and assembly facilities in the United States and Europe, supplying solutions for both retrofit and new-build projects.
Vertiv said the acquisition would enhance its ability to deliver pre-engineered, AI-ready rack infrastructure tailored to enterprise, colocation and hyperscale markets. The company added that integrating Great Lakes’ product lines would improve scalability, enable faster deployment and expand support for artificial intelligence and edge computing applications.
“The addition of Great Lakes strengthens our position in high-density rack infrastructure,” Vertiv CEO Gio Albertazzi said in a statement. “Together we can address more complex requirements in next-generation data centres.”
The deal values Great Lakes at about 11.5 times expected 2026 earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation, including anticipated cost synergies and cross-selling opportunities, Vertiv said.
According to analysts note that demand for higher-density racks is rising as businesses adopt AI workloads, which require greater processing power and more advanced cooling capacity. Vendors such as Vertiv are competing to provide integrated infrastructure that can support this transition.
The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory clearance under the United States Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976. Vertiv said it expects the deal to close in the third quarter of 2025.
Vertiv, headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, supplies power, cooling and IT management systems to data centres, communication networks and commercial facilities in more than 130 countries.
