Powering the energy transition: how Advent built a global leader in flexible energy solutions

Opportunity

Transform an industrial carve-out asset into a global leader in bespoke energy solutions under the INNIO brand, capturing the structural power demand shift driven by the AI data center build-out and the broader energy transition.

Approach

Partnered with management to execute a multi-year value creation plan across four main pillars: deepening the service flywheel, capturing the data center opportunity, building a US manufacturing footprint, and increasing investments into the technology platform.

Impact

Built a fast-growth, highly profitable energy solutions business generating approximately $2.6 billion in revenue and $549 million in adjusted EBITDA, with equipment order intake growing at a 107% CAGR from 2023 to 2025, underpinned by a 44 gigawatt (GW) installed base across the globe as of December 31, 2025.

A carve-out creating an independent global leader

When General Electric’s (GE) Distributed Power business came under strategic review in 2018, Advent was a natural partner. Industrial carve-outs of this scale are complex undertakings — requiring the full decoupling of a business from its parent, including rebranding, management transformation, commercial portfolio realignment, and building the operational infrastructure of a standalone company from the ground up. We brought deep sector knowledge, a successful track record of exactly this kind of work, and decades of on-the-ground presence across the German-speaking industrial region, where the business is headquartered. We had followed the company for years and developed a clear thesis on the significant value an independent path could unlock.

We saw a high-quality reciprocating engine platform operating below its potential. Two iconic engine franchises, Jenbacher and Waukesha, sat inside a much larger conglomerate with a lack of focus, limited capital and management attention. We also recognized that the US represented a significant untapped opportunity and that Advent’s deep operational presence in North America would be critical to realizing it. At entry, powerful megatrends were already converging: the global push for decarbonization, the build-out of renewables, the growing need for grid stabilization and distributed power, and the digitalization of energy assets. All of these megatrends were creating structural demand for flexible, reliable gas engine technology. Since then, the rapid rise of AI and the massive data center build-out emerged as one of the most powerful demand drivers of all, reinforcing every element of our original thesis and validating INNIO’s fast-start, transient-capable engines as purpose-built for this new power landscape.

Over the entire life-cycle of our partnership with INNIO, the business has also been supported by Advent’s Portfolio Support Group, a dedicated team of operational specialists with deep sector knowledge who work closely alongside INNIO’s management team to help implement and accelerate value creation initiatives. Together, the team executed our multi-faceted value creation plan to position INNIO for its future in the public markets.

Built to meet increasing global power demands

INNIO’s business model is centered around a proven and highly profitable Services flywheel that compounds over many years. Every new engine that INNIO sells creates a multi-year aftermarket relationship — through maintenance, overhauls, and rebuilds. Across INNIO’s global installed base of around 44 GW (as of December 31, 2025), INNIO’s long-term Services business can deliver substantially more value than the original equipment sale alone and provides for recurring long-term cash flow generation.

Under Advent’s ownership, growing this flywheel was a central value creation pillar. Drawing on Advent’s global network and operational expertise across industrial and services businesses, we invested in service efficiency, refined the go-to-market strategy across both direct and indirect channels, and brought in distributor and integrator acquisitions to extend service capture across new geographies. Recurring services now account for around 48% of total revenue and roughly 65% of adjusted segment EBITDA as of December 31, 2025. INNIO’s Services revenue has grown continuously, delivering steady performance across a range of market environments.

While the Services flywheel was growing, the data center power landscape was fundamentally shifting as AI computing continued to drive an unprecedented surge in global power demand. Hyperscalers are facing multi-year grid connection waiting times in key markets, creating a structural growing demand for decentralized and flexible power. INNIO’s gas engines, which are flexible, decentralized, modular, transient, and efficient have established themselves as a proven alternative to grid-dependent power.

To serve this demand, Advent leveraged its deep US operational expertise to strengthen INNIO’s US manufacturing footprint: the Waukesha, Wisconsin campus is being developed as a major US production hub for our flagship Type 6 products for data centers; a dedicated containerization site in Trenton, New Jersey has been stood up; and a new facility in Waller, Texas serving the US oil and gas market is being built. INNIO’s innovation also extends to the fuels of the future. As customers face increasing pressure to reduce emissions, hydrogen offers a path to near-zero carbon power generation using the same engine platform. All relevant Jenbacher platforms are capable of running on hydrogen blends of up to 25% by volume, and in April 2026 the 3 MW Jenbacher engine ran on 100% hydrogen under real-world data center load profiles — demonstrating a credible, lower-carbon future for the installed base.

The next chapter

Since the successful carve-out of INNIO from GE in 2018, Advent worked alongside management and more than 5,000 employees as of December 31, 2025 to invest behind its products and people and build a strong operating foundation. Since 2023, total revenues have grown by more than 30%, and in 2025 revenues from INNIO’s Services segment reached its highest level since our acquisition. Furthermore, INNIO entered 2026 with a record equipment order backlog of $3.6 billion—a strong growth runway for the future.

INNIO today stands as a focused, independent energy solutions platform, one that proved its resilience through multiple cycles and captured a defining moment in the global power market. For Advent, INNIO reflects the thesis we developed nearly a decade ago: that inside one of the world’s largest industrial conglomerates sat a business that, given the right partnership and the right capital, could take its place among the leaders of its industry. We are proud of what the company has achieved together with its management team, employees, and our partners.

On June 4, 2026, INNIO listed on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the ticker symbol “INIO”. Advent retains a significant shareholding in the listed business and continues to serve on the board — the culmination of eight years of patient ownership and the beginning of the next phase of the partnership.