Align Capital Partners to Sell Pleatco Filtration to Pentair plc

Pleatco Filtration, a portfolio company of Align Capital Partners (ACP), has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by Pentair plc.

This transaction marks a milestone in the history of Pleatco, a leader and innovator in the pool & spa industry that has successfully forged into the industrial air filtration arena in recent years.

Headquartered in Louisville, KY, Pleatco is a leading aftermarket-focused manufacturer of highly engineered clean air and pool and spa water filtration technologies that helps protect people, processes, and the environment. ACP acquired Pleatco in June 2017 and has spent the last four years professionalizing and growing the business through several key initiatives. 

“Pleatco has been truly transformed through an aggressive series of investments in people, systems, facilities, and products,” said ACP managing partner Rob Langley. “Additionally, the key tenets of the business that attracted us to the investment years ago are still driving the company forward today. Pleatco benefits from the recurring nature of its highly engineered, consumable products that are focused on serving pool, spa, and industrial air customers’ aftermarket needs.”

“With the planned acquisition of Pleatco, we are excited about the opportunity to offer additional options to pool, spa, and industrial air customers and we are looking forward to welcoming the Pleatco employees to our Pentair team,” said John Stauch, Pentair president and CEO.

Over the past few years since Pleatco was acquired by ACP, executive leadership from within the industry was recruited including President Seth Soltow and active board member Rick Von Drehle. The management team was rounded out with a new CFO, Sharon Adams and CRO, Pete Todd to work beside long-term Pleatco brand leader CMO, Battista Remati, while supplementing strong existing talent at the company and transforming the sales organization. Pleatco also completed add-on acquisitions, which drove product expansion into industrial air and diversified the company’s pool & spa filter offerings and capabilities. 

“It’s been incredible to see the pace of change and growth within Pleatco since I joined the company in 2018,” said Soltow. “ACP’s operating and growth resources served as active partners who committed much more than just capital to our management team. The company today is well positioned for continued growth alongside the additional scale and resources that Pentair provides.”

In the immediate future, the completion of the acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions and necessary regulatory approvals, including expiration of the applicable waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, as amended.*