The water cooler market just lost its only public price tag on instant taps

A premium instant tap business just sold for about three times what it cost three years earlier. Strix Group, listed in London, bought Billi in November 2022 for around £38 million. In December 2025 it agreed to sell Billi for £110 million to a bidder backed by Crescent Capital Partners. The sale completed on 30 January 2026. Net cash proceeds came to £102.0 million.

Strix published results for the 15 months to 31 March 2026 on 4 August. Group revenue was £153.2 million, up 6.2% at constant currency, helped by the longer trading period. Controls, the kettle safety business, fell 23.8% to £52.9 million. Consumer Goods rose 12.0% to £34.4 million. The Billi money left the group with net cash of £38.7 million.

Those are the last public figures the water dispense market will see on a pure instant tap business.

Why one tap deal matters more than its size

ITS means integrated tap systems. These are the boiling, chilled and sparkling taps plumbed into office kitchens and hospitality counters. Across our European models, taps grow faster than bottled or mains-fed water and earn far more per machine. Almost nobody publishes a number for the segment.

Billi was the exception. It sat inside a listed company, so its revenue and its growth were disclosed twice a year. Billi was the closest thing instant taps had to a public benchmark, and that window has now closed.

Look at who is left. Quooker is private. Zip belongs to Culligan, which is private. Grohe sits inside Lixil, where drinking-water taps are one small line in a large building products group. Borg & Overström and Blupura are private. Every serious name in instant taps is now private, or a minor line inside a bigger company.

What the price actually says

Three times money in a little over three years is a strong result. A private equity backer paid it. Financial money paid a premium for a tap maker while the seller's core division shrank by almost a quarter.

That says something about how outside capital reads workplace hydration. A premium tap sells hardware once. Then it bills filters and service every year after. Once the tap is cut into a counter, the customer rarely moves.

It also says something less comfortable. A listed owner held the fastest-growing asset in its portfolio and took the cash instead. Strix used the proceeds to clear its debt and return money to shareholders. Billi had opened a new Australian plant and needed more investment behind it. Small listed companies find that hard to fund while holding earnings steady. Private capital finds it easier.

The problem this creates for everyone else

Valuation in this segment now runs on deals nobody outside them can see. Anyone selling, buying or refinancing a tap business is now pricing against private comparables they cannot see.

So the work goes back to fundamentals. How many taps are actually installed and paying? What share of those pay for filters and service? How long is the average contract? What happens at renewal, and who signs it? You can build all of those yourself. A public multiple you can no longer borrow.

Ownership keeps changing class

Dispense assets are moving between owner types faster than the assets themselves are changing. Culligan gave up Billi as a merger remedy in 2022. Strix bought it, then sold it to private equity three years later. Eden Springs UK moved to BWT in April. Eden Springs Portugal went to Aquaservice. Bottled rounds, mains-fed books and tap makers can all end up in different hands inside one cycle.

Operators can use that. When a business changes hands, service quality usually dips for a quarter or two and specification decisions stall. That is when a focused local operator wins accounts. This cuts both ways for bottled operators. A well-run bottled round with a steady service record looks strong beside a business mid-integration.

Investors should read it as a data problem. The next person to price an instant tap business will do it on installed base and contract quality. There is nothing public left to point at.

P.S. Putting a number on a segment nobody publishes? The 2026 Zenith Water Dispense Market Reports cover 30+ markets, every West and East European market plus Japan, Turkey, the UAE, South Korea and Mexico on request. Each one is a full BWD, POU and ITS model: operators and shares, B2C and B2B split, revenue, and a 2019 to 2030 outlook. Excel, with the written report on request. Trusted by industry leaders since 1998. https://waterdispenseinsights.com/reports