Schneider bids €1.2 billion for Shelly a day after unveiling its 3.5 MW AI cooler

Founders sell 57 percent at €70 a share

Schneider Electric confirmed on 24 September 2026 a voluntary tender at €70 a share↗ for Shelly Group, the Sofia maker of smart plugs, energy meters and locks ¹. Founders Dimitar Dimitrov and Svetlin Todorov hold about 57 percent between them and have agreed to sell under certain conditions ². Shelly rose 4.9 percent to €67.60 in Frankfurt on the day, roughly 20 percent above its level before the talks leaked in late July ¹.

A €1.2 billion bet on the household meter

The bid values Shelly at about €1.2 billion ($1.4 billion) excluding debt ¹; a second account counts €1.27 billion ³. That is a 27 percent premium to the unaffected 28 July price↗ ² for a software-led home energy platform that would sit under Schneider's residential and small-commercial business, beside EcoStruxure, already running at 480,000 sites ⁸. Acceptance is set at 95 percent, with closing expected in the first quarter of 2027↗ ²³.

A day earlier, a cooler sized for the AI hall

On 23 September Schneider's cooling arm launched the Motivair WCDU↗, rated by the company at 3.5 megawatts per unit, twenty of them grouped to serve a 30–40 MW data hall, shipping from October ⁴. Nothing in Schneider's statements connects the cooler and the bid.

The Motivair line, part of the group since 2025, lives inside Energy Management, the segment that grew 18 percent organic in the first half ⁵. One company now sells the thirst of the AI hall and the discipline of the household meter, in a Europe where gas prices are up more than 75 percent in two months and eurozone energy prices rose 14.3 percent year on year in August↗ ⁶.

Shelly arrives profitable and growing

The target is no science project. First-half 2026 revenue was €68.3 million, up 26.5 percent, and net profit rose 51.4 percent to €15.4 million↗ ⁷. Revenue has compounded above 40 percent a year since 2022, sold in more than 100 countries ².

The street calls it a bolt-on

RBC called the price a sensible bolt-on worth under 1 percent of Schneider's market value, and Jefferies saw strong synergies with the residential arm ². The risk is not the cheque. The cooling side already compounds; the household side needs Europe's grid to stay tight enough that someone pays to see and switch household load.

The market leaves €2.40 for the 95 percent risk

Shelly closed at €67.60 against a €70 tender, and the €2.40 left on the table, about 3.5 percent, is the market's price for the chance the bid stalls below its 95 percent acceptance line ¹². Watch two dates. WCDU shipments begin in October ⁴. The tender must clear Bulgaria's Financial Supervision Commission, with registration expected late November or early December ². The cooler ships on schedule; the smart plug clears, or does not, at 95 percent.