Headquarter: USA
Revenue: $3bn
Investment Date: October 2022
Culligan International is a global leader in delivering premium water services and solutions that improve the health and wellness of consumers.
Committed to sustainable solutions, the company offers some of the most technologically advanced water filtration and treatment services and solutions available, including water softeners, drinking water systems, and whole-house systems for homeowners and bottleless coolers for businesses.
The business was founded in 1936 and is headquartered in Rosemont, Illinois, US.
Culligan’s network of dealers and direct operations is the largest in its industry, with more than 12,000 employees and 1,000 dealers in 90 countries. Culligan’s 35+ brands serve more than 50 million consumers from an installed base of >9m units every year and share a mission of bringing better water to consumers anywhere they need it – in the home, at work or on-the-go.
Culligan has a proven M&A track record and has executed >200 acquisitions since 2017 across the globe. The business is characterized by:
- Consumer Service Focus
- High share of recurring revenues
- Balanced mix of Out-of-Home and Home markets
- Proprietary Technology
- Process Excellence
155m Consumers served globally per year
>500 Million kg of plastic avoided annually
~40 Billion single-use plastic bottles reduced annually
The vision for Culligan is to create a truly global player in water across bottleless, Bottled Water Cooler, conditioning, and filters as well as across B2B and residential end markets coupled with a leading suite of technology and products underpinned by strong R&D.
- Buy-and build: Culligan is ideally positioned to build out its market position in a highly fragmented market globally with high potential for consolidation
- Organic growth: Drive continued organic growth of attractive service and razor / razor-blade recurring revenue models through continued leadership in R&D and product design, a best-in-class digital customer experience and further rollout of the full product range globally
- Operational excellence: drive performance via Culligan Business System and strategy deployment
EPIC I-b became a shareholder in Culligan following Culligan’s acquisition of Waterlogic for cash and shares in October 2022.
- Secular market trends of sustainability and health driving long-term growth at 6% p.a. in a very sizable market
- Culligan is the clear market leader in most of its directly covered markets, with barriers to entry from branding, channel access, scale, density, vertical integration, and technology / R&D capabilities
- Balanced exposure across household and B2B segments, with strong cash conversion and a high degree of recurring and reoccurring revenue
- Vertically integrated with market-leading technology and own manufacturing
- Fragmented industry with significant buy & build potential
- Seasoned and strong executive team to execute on strategic ambitions coupled with a deep bench on regional and functional level
- Operational excellence: drive performance via Culligan Business System and strategy deployment