Ropes & Gray Advised Audax Private Equity Portfolio Company Flow Control Holdings in Majority Stake Sale to Blackstone

Ropes & Gray advised Audax Private Equity portfolio company Flow Control Holdings (FCH) in a majority stake sales agreement with private equity funds affiliated with Blackstone Capital Partners and Blackstone Energy Transition Partners, collectively Blackstone. The transaction was announced on September 10 and financial terms were not disclosed. As part of the transaction, Audax will retain a minority equity stake in FCH, continuing to partner with Blackstone and management to support the company. The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2026.

Flow Control Holdings is a provider of highly engineered flow control solutions and components for  data center liquid cooling, food, beverage, and pharmaceutical markets. AI infrastructure is increasingly relying on liquid cooling for improved energy usage and chip efficiency.

Audax Private Equity is a leading private equity platform focused on investing across the North American middle market. As of July 2026, Audax Private Equity had approximately $20 billion of assets under management and, since inception in 1999, has invested in more than 180 platforms and more than 1,500 add-on acquisitions.

The Ropes & Gray team was led by private equity partner Ken Chow and private equity associate Joshua Coombes and included environmental partner Peter Alpert, tax partner Scott Pinarchick, antitrust partners Ruchit Patel and Samer Musallam, HSR partner Deidre Johnson, mergers & acquisitions partner Craig Marcus, litigation & enforcement partner Dan McCaughey, and employment, executive compensation & benefits partner Jenny Rikoski.