Blackstone-backed Legence files for US IPO
Legence filed late Friday for a Nasdaq IPO that would allow the Blackstone-backed industrial equipment supplier to begin marketing immediately after the September 1 US Labor Day holiday.
Goldman Sachs and Jefferies are joint bookrunners atop an extensive syndicate of 19 investment banks handling the offering. The banks are required to wait 15 days before launching the offering.
The builder and installer of energy-efficient HVAC systems is using the proceeds to pay down the US$1.6bn currently outstanding on a credit facility. While the base deal is entirely primary, Blackstone would sell shares through the greenshoe option.
In the first half of 2025, Legence generated US$123m of adjusted Ebitda as revenue grew by 11% to US$1.1bn, leveraging the business at roughly 6x net debt to Ebitda. The company would need to raise about US$600m to reduce leverage to below a 4x multiple, according to IFR calculations.
Legence is benefitting from the growing demand for power from end users such as data centers, semiconductor manufacturers, life sciences and healthcare facilities. More than half of its revenue comes from these industries.
Though HVAC installation may not seem like a particularly sexy industry, Legace benefits from several growth trends, including the AI infrastructure buildout and the reshoring of US manufacturing to avoid the Trump tariffs.
Based in California, Legace has a national footprint and completes more than 50,000 jobs across the US each year performed by engineers, HVAC and plumbing technicians, and other skilled workers.
Blackstone acquired a predecessor company called Therma in 2020.
Legence is the latest private equity-backed company seeking to go public, following the debuts in late July of NIQ Global Intelligence and McGraw Hill. NIQ and McGraw Hill are trading 13.1% and 18.1% below the price at which they went public.