Badger Meter, Inc. announced the acquisition of SmartCover® Systems from XPV Water Partners for USD 185 million. The transaction, funded with available cash, adds real-time monitoring of collection systems, with a focus on sewer line and lift station monitoring, to the network monitoring applications already offered under the BlueEdge™ by Badger Meter suite of water management solutions.
SmartCover, with approximately USD 35 million in annual revenue, provides sensors, software, and related services to monitor sewer levels 24/7, determining changes in patterns and automatically alerting utilities to potential issues. Their sewer line solutions aid in predicting, detecting, and preventing sewer overflow spills, saving money while protecting public health and the environment. In addition, the technology can reduce the need for high-frequency cleanings, locate areas of inflow and infiltration, detect intrusion, and control toxic sewer gases. Additionally, SmartCover provides lift station monitoring and control hardware and software solutions.
“SmartCover fits directly into our BlueEdge suite of hardware-enabled software solutions, enhancing the scope of data, information, and analytics that collectively strengthen our customers’ water management practices. We hear from our customers with greater frequency that extreme weather events will often cause significant problems for municipal water infrastructure. SmartCover is the market leader in the fast-growing stormwater management space, which is in the very early stages of adoption in North America and other regional markets in which we operate. Given its high annual recurring software and support model, we believe that leveraging our world-class Badger Meter sales network to accelerate municipal adoption of SmartCover’s solutions will enhance shareholder value over the long term,” stated Kenneth C. Bockhorst, Chairman, President, and CEO of Badger Meter.
“We are excited to join forces with Badger Meter to enable water utilities to more effectively deal with the range of challenges associated with aging infrastructure, limited resources, and the impact of severe weather events on system resiliency,” said Corey Williams, President and CEO of SmartCover. “Badger Meter’s innovation and leadership in the smart water management space makes it a natural home for our market-leading collection system monitoring technologies. Together, we will aid customers in visualizing and optimally managing the full extent of their wastewater management systems.”