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3 to 5 Nov 2026
Badger Meter, the Milwaukee-based water technology company listed on the New York Stock Exchange as BMI, announced on 3 November 2026 that it had acquired 37South, a Melbourne, Australia-based supplier of low power remote terminal units and remote monitoring systems that has sold to utilities, municipal councils and mining and irrigation operators since 2008. The transaction is the third acquisition in the monitoring segment of Badger Meter’s BlueEdge suite since January 2025, following the $185 million purchase of SmartCover Systems and the $100 million plus contingent consideration purchase of UDlive Limited, and it is the first to give the company a base in the Australian market.
What 37South Brings to the BlueEdge Portfolio
According to the announcement, 37South designs, develops and sells remote terminal units and remote monitoring solutions for deployment in hard-to-reach locations across Australia and beyond, covering water, wastewater, irrigation, sewer level and mining applications. The company’s products are listed in the Sigfox partner directory with Sigfox-compliant ultra-low-power loggers and RTUs, including the Site Sentinel and Metermade product lines.
Glen Downie, founder and chief executive of 37South, said the transaction validated the company’s work and that he expected to contribute to Badger Meter’s growth in Australia. BlueEdge is the brand under which Badger Meter groups its hardware-enabled software products for water utilities, a portfolio that now includes sewer level sensors, lift station monitoring and remote telemetry.
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A Pattern of Bolt-On Purchases in Sewer and Remote Monitoring
The January 2025 purchase of SmartCover Systems from XPV Water Partners cost $185 million in cash and brought annual revenue of about $35 million, according to Badger Meter, a multiple of about 5.3 times revenue. UDlive, a UK sewer line monitoring provider launched in 2017, was agreed on 17 April 2026 for $100 million plus contingent consideration against fiscal 2026 revenue of $22 million, a multiple of about 4.5 times before any contingent payment, as described in the UDlive announcement.
Taken together, the two earlier acquisitions cost $285 million in cash before contingent consideration for combined annual revenue of about $57 million, a blended multiple of about 5.0 times revenue. UDlive reports a 90 per cent tender success rate since its inception, a figure supplied by the company in the acquisition announcement, which reflects the role that competitive utility procurement plays in this segment of the market.
Kurrantly News covered both earlier transactions, SmartCover and UDlive, and the 37South transaction extends the same geographic logic: a US position through SmartCover, a UK position through UDlive and now an Australian position.
The geographic spread of the three monitoring businesses also changes how Badger Meter can bid. SmartCover brings an installed base of sewer level sensors and lift station controllers with a significant US presence, UDlive brings a UK customer base won through tenders, and 37South brings utility and council relationships in Australia where its units are deployed at remote sites.
Earnings Context: Flat Quarter, Lower Nine Months
Badger Meter reported third-quarter 2026 net sales of $235.9 million on 22 October 2026, against $235.7 million a year earlier, according to its Form 8-K press release. Base sales excluding UDlive were $230.3 million, and UDlive, acquired on 1 May 2026, contributed $5.6 million, or about 2.4 per cent of the quarter’s sales.
Net earnings for the quarter were $35.9 million against $35.1 million, and diluted earnings per share were $1.24 against $1.19. For the nine months ended 30 September 2026, net sales were $660.5 million against $696.0 million, a decline of about 5.1 per cent, and net earnings fell to $93.0 million from $108.1 million, a decline of about 14.0 per cent.
Market Context for Remote Monitoring Consolidation
The sequence of purchases reflects a wider pattern of water technology groups acquiring monitoring specialists. Veralto agreed to acquire In-Situ for $435 million, as Kurrantly News reported, and Swiss meter manufacturer GWF acquired the assets of UK-based i2O Water, as Kurrantly News also reported.
Badger Meter’s approach differs in that each target brings a regional customer base that the company then serves through its own commercial network, a route it described for UDlive in April when it said it planned to use its global commercial network to expand the UK business beyond its home market. The same route is the stated basis for 37South, which Bockhorst described as a launch pad for the wider BlueEdge portfolio in Australia.
The first quantitative test will arrive with the fourth-quarter 2026 results, in which management has guided to sequential and year-over-year improvement in base revenue, and where UDlive’s $5.6 million quarterly contribution gives a reference point for how quickly a bolt-on of this size is absorbed into reported sales.
