Ferguson has agreed to acquire industrial flow control distributor FloWorks for approximately $1.6 billion, marking a major expansion of Ferguson’s nonresidential business and its largest announced acquisition in years.

The all-cash transaction would bring Houston-based FloWorks to Ferguson from private equity firm Wynnchurch Capital. The deal is expected to close during the third quarter of 2026, subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions.

FloWorks generated approximately $1 billion in 2025 revenue and operates more than 60 locations across the U.S. and Canada, primarily along the Gulf Coast and throughout the southern U.S. Its platform includes more than 1,000 employees, 25 service and repair centers and 15 operating brands.

Founded in 1961, FloWorks distributes highly technical valves, valve automation products, specialty pipe, flanges and fittings, rotating equipment and other fluid-handling solutions. It also provides repair, field service and other technical capabilities to customers in chemicals, refining, power generation, semiconductors, pharmaceuticals, data centers and other industrial markets.

Ferguson said FloWorks will broaden its capabilities in valves, automation and specialty flow control while adding recurring MRO-driven revenue and greater exposure to industrial markets benefiting from long-term investment trends.

“FloWorks strengthens our leading position in high-growth industrial end markets, while adding meaningful capabilities and geographic coverage which we can leverage across our non-residential customer groups,” Ferguson CEO Kevin Murphy said in the company’s July 13 announcement.

Ferguson expects the acquisition to produce revenue opportunities across its Industrial, Commercial Mechanical and Waterworks customer groups, along with cost savings from network optimization, logistics and technology. The purchase price equates to approximately 10 times FloWorks’ trailing adjusted EBITDA, including about $45 million in anticipated synergies.

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The company said the deal should be immediately accretive to adjusted earnings per share and increase its total addressable market from approximately $340 billion to $400 billion.

The acquisition represents a considerable departure in scale from Ferguson’s recent M&A pattern, which has largely consisted of smaller regional distributors and manufacturers’ representative agencies.

On May 5, Ferguson announced six completed or pending acquisitions with a combined annualized revenue impact of approximately $350 million. Those additions expanded its water and wastewater, HVAC and industrial valve operations, including the pending acquisition of PRD Technologies Group.

By comparison, FloWorks alone would add nearly three times that amount of annual revenue.

Ferguson reported $31.3 billion in 2025 sales and operates more than 1,700 locations with approximately 35,000 employees. The company decorated MDM’s 2026 Top Distributors Lists, charting No. 1 for Plumbing and Industrial PVF, No. 3 for HVACR and No. 11 for Industrial Supplies.

Most recently on the FloWorks news front, the company acquired Louisiana-based Cranford Equipment this past December and West Texas-based Slater Controls in October 2025.

MDM Analysis

The FloWorks deal would immediately make Ferguson a more formidable competitor in the fragmented industrial valve and flow control distribution market.

While Ferguson already has substantial PVF and industrial capabilities, FloWorks adds a much deeper concentration of technical specialists, valve automation expertise, service infrastructure and established supplier relationships. Those capabilities are difficult to reproduce through individual tuck-in acquisitions, particularly when customers require application engineering, product configuration, repair and rapid-response field support.

The combination also gives Ferguson a larger position in markets where distributor value extends well beyond product availability. In chemical plants, refineries, semiconductor facilities, power plants and pharmaceutical operations, valve selection, automation and maintenance can directly affect uptime, safety and process performance.

For regional flow control distributors, the transaction raises the competitive stakes. Ferguson will be able to pair FloWorks’ specialized knowledge with a national distribution network, broader product portfolio, logistics capabilities and considerable acquisition resources.

The deal could also accelerate consolidation. Other large industrial distributors and private equity-backed platforms may seek acquisitions to add technical talent, service centers or geographic coverage before attractive independent valve specialists become harder — and more expensive — to acquire.

Still, Ferguson’s ability to realize the deal’s full value will depend on retaining FloWorks’ technical employees and preserving its supplier and customer relationships. In specialized flow control markets, expertise and local credibility can be every bit as important as purchasing scale.