nVent closed its $1.75 billion Maverick Power purchase; CEO Beth Wozniak had sold $7.6 million of stock

The chief who bought the buildout and sold the stock

Beth Wozniak, chair and chief executive of nVent, closed the $1.75 billion purchase of Maverick Power on October 1↗: a 900-employee switchgear maker in McKinney, Texas, expected to book roughly $700 million of revenue this year ¹³. In the six months before the close, Wozniak sold 46,261 of her own shares across four sales for about $7.6 million, and bought none ¹.

The deal is paid for with 6.15% money

The purchase price came from lenders. nVent issued $800 million of 6.150% senior notes due 2036↗ on September 29 through its Hoffman Schroff Holdings subsidiary, alongside a $600 million term loan and a $250 million revolver ². The bonds carried a 101% special mandatory redemption had the deal collapsed, and the coupon alone costs about $49 million a year ². Up to $550 million more goes to Maverick's sellers, but only if performance metrics land in 2027 and 2028 ¹.

The closest hands took the cash out

Insiders made 13 open-market sales in six months and not one purchase, about $23.8 million across the six named officers ¹. Millennium Management cut its stake 66% in the second quarter and PointState exited entirely ¹. The sell-side leaned the other way: President Capital opened at Buy with a $198 target↗, and 19 analysts average $204.88 on a $167.17 stock ⁷.

The demand underneath is real

Second-quarter revenue reached $1.471 billion, up 53%, on a $2.5 billion backlog, with data center sales guided above $2 billion for 2026, more than double 2025↗ ⁵⁶. nVent entered the deal at just 1.2 times net leverage and paid 11.5 times Maverick's expected 2026 adjusted EBITDA ³⁴.

The bull case rests on numbers nobody has seen

Sixty-eight hedge funds held the stock at the end of June, up from 60, with Jennison, T. Rowe Price and Sixth Street adding ¹⁴, and management raised full-year profit guidance in July ⁵. But nVent never disclosed the revenue or EBITDA thresholds behind the $550 million earn-out↗ ⁴. Zacks rates the stock a Sell at 27.55 times forward earnings↗ against an industry at 22.69, with tariffs guided to $100 million this year ⁶.

Watch the filings, not the price targets

The third-quarter report, due within weeks, is the first order read since the close, and the fourth quarter is the first to carry Maverick. The tell is twofold: whether any insider buys a share, and whether the earn-out metrics surface. Until they do, the only parties contractually obliged to believe in the AI power buildout are the people who just sold Maverick Power.