DALLAS, Texas - CECO Environmental Corporation announced it has acquired Compass Water Solutions, Inc., a global supplier of membrane-based industrial water and wastewater treatment systems that help customers achieve regulatory compliance of water discharge at the lowest lifecycle cost. The transaction adds to CECO's growing industrial water technologies.
Compass generated approximately $11 million of revenue in 2021 with double-digit EBITDA margins. The total purchase price was $12.5 million and funded by a mix of cash and debt. Approximately 70 percent was paid at closing with the balance to be paid over a two-year period. CECO expects the acquisition to be accretive to total company EBITDA margins, earnings per share, and free cash flows in 2022.
With this acquisition, CECO expands its addressable industrial water technology market by over $250 million, with expected growth rates over six percent CAGR through 2025 for industrial oily-water and seawater reverse osmosis applications. CECO expects the Compass acquisition to unlock greater value by leveraging CECO's international sales resources, existing U.S. Navy expertise, and global engineering and production footprint. In addition to market growth rates, the expected stricter water discharge regulations coupled with hard-to-attain international certifications are expected to drive higher sales. Compass' installed base of over 8,000 systems worldwide has created a robust aftermarket parts and services business that represents approximately 40 percent of current revenues. Finally, with an average order size of less than $250,000, Compass increases CECO's short-cycle business mix to approximately $100 million, or 30 percent, of total company 2021 revenue.