GE Vernova Agrees to Buy Trench Group for $9 Billion as Gas Turbine Order Growth Cools

GE Vernova said Wednesday, Oct. 28, that it signed an agreement to buy Trench Group, a Berlin-based maker of high-voltage grid components, from investment firm Triton Partners for $9 billion. The company announced it alongside third-quarter earnings.

The price works out to 13 times Trench's projected 2028 adjusted EBITDA, before synergies, according to GE Vernova. Trench expects $1.9 billion in revenue in 2028 at roughly a 36% adjusted EBITDA margin. Those are projections, not results.

GE Vernova expects to fund the purchase equally with cash and debt. Closing is targeted for late 2027, subject to regulatory approvals.

What Trench makes and why GE Vernova wants it

Trench makes bushings, instrument transformers and coils. They go into transformers, switchgear, substations and high-voltage direct-current lines. The company has more than 3,000 employees and 11 manufacturing sites. It serves more than 800 utilities and hyperscalers.

Trench already supplies GE Vernova with HVDC equipment. CEO Scott Strazik told investors the company currently buys most of its transformer bushings from outside suppliers and expects to source more from Trench after closing. Bushings make up about 5% to 8% of a transformer's bill of materials, Strazik said, and large-transformer customers often specify whose bushings they want.

"This gives us a lot more control over the critical technology in the supply chain," Strazik said.

The supply problem is real. A federal study cited by Engineering News-Record found that procuring extra-high-voltage transformers can take up to five years, and it flagged bushings among the constrained components.

Trench's new Charlotte, N.C., plant is expected to begin producing bushings rated up to 765 kV in late 2027. Trench communications chief Ulrich Künster said the factory will initially make up to 3,500 per year, with room to expand to 10,000. Strazik said it would be the first U.S. maker of bushings at that rating.

The deal includes about $5 billion in backlog and framework agreements, some running into the next decade, according to GE Vernova. The company's Electrification backlog reached $46.1 billion in the third quarter, up 55% from a year earlier.

Gas turbines: prices up, new contracts slower

Total gas turbine capacity under contract rose to 122 GW from 116 GW. That is a gain of 6 GW. Earlier quarters in 2026 posted double-digit gigawatt gains.

In the quarter, GE Vernova shipped 5 GW and signed 11 GW of orders and slot reservations. A slot reservation is a deposit that holds a future spot on the production line. The company sold multiple slots for 2032 delivery.

Price is where the strength shows. Strazik said full-year 2026 gas order pricing per kilowatt will be about 50% higher than full-year 2025. He described that as directional. The figure covers only GE Vernova's own orders, and the year is not fully booked.

Third-quarter pricing ran more than 20% above fourth-quarter 2025 orders, helped by a larger share of smaller aeroderivative turbines. GE Vernova expects fourth-quarter pricing per kilowatt to come in below the third quarter because more 50 Hz units will move out of reservations.

AI is part of the demand, but not most of it. About 80% of gas customers are traditional buyers such as utilities, Strazik said, and about 20% are data centers. Data center orders across the company total more than $6 billion in 2026 so far.

The quarter and the guidance

Orders were $29.3 billion, up 96%. Backlog grew by about $20 billion in the quarter to $197 billion. GE Vernova expects it to top $200 billion by next quarter and expects at least 130 GW of gas equipment under contract by year-end.

The company raised its free cash flow guidance to $16 billion to $17 billion, from $11.5 billion to $12.5 billion. Its Power segment EBITDA margin rose 800 basis points to 21.4%.

Strazik told investors he expects solid growth in turbine orders and reservations through 2027, but not at the first-half 2026 pace. "The quarterly profiles in 2027 are more likely to feel like 3Q and 4Q" of 2026, he said.

Shares

Shares dipped as much as 6% to about $845 early in the session Oct. 28 and closed at $878.03. On Thursday, Oct. 29, they closed at $887.85, up 1.12%. The stock is still well below its 52-week high of $1,195.94.

MarketBeat described investors as weighing the earnings and raised guidance against concerns about slower near-term order signings and valuation. 24/7 Wall St. said the lower fourth-quarter pricing outlook likely weighed on the stock. Neither is a statement from the company.

GE Vernova's own guidance on 2027 order pacing is the clearest evidence for the slower-orders concern. Its pricing and backlog numbers are the evidence for the other side.

The Motley Fool noted that Siemens Energy sold Trench in 2024 as part of non-core asset sales while its wind business was losing billions. The price at that sale was not disclosed.

What comes next

The Trench deal needs regulatory approval, and GE Vernova doesn't expect it to close for about a year. Fourth-quarter results will show whether the company reaches the 130 GW and $200 billion backlog marks it set for itself.