(Updated October 2026. USD figures are converted at USD/JPY = 150 for reference and rounded; amounts disclosed in USD or other currencies are shown as disclosed. Company fiscal years are shown as FY2026/3 for the fiscal year ended March 2026. Industry and government statistics on a fiscal-year basis are shown with their periods, for example FY2025 (April 2025 to March 2026).)
Pump orders received by Japanese manufacturers, domestic and export combined, were about ¥500bn (~USD 3.4bn) in both FY2024 and FY2025. Since 2017, Japan pump M&A has included transfers of businesses from large industrial groups to pump makers. Sumitomo Heavy Industries sold its steam turbine and process pump subsidiary, Shin Nippon Machinery, to Torishima Pump in 2026, and Mitsubishi Electric agreed in 2025 to transfer its three-phase motor business and its Thai motor and pump operations to Ebara. Equipment makers that buy pumps as components, such as Noritz and ShinMaywa, have acquired their pump suppliers. A non-listed pump maker, Nippon Oil Pump, has passed from a Japanese fund to a French investment company and then to another fund. Abroad, Ebara, Nikkiso, Tsurumi Manufacturing and Iwaki have acquired pump makers and distributors, or raised their stakes, in Turkey, North America, Italy, the Nordic region and China.
This article is written for corporate development and international business development teams at foreign companies that see Japan as an acquisition market, a source of partners, or a source of acquirers for their own businesses. It reviews Japan pump M&A through the market structure, the industry landscape, domestic consolidation, foreign capital in Japanese pumps, Japanese pump makers’ acquisitions abroad, the industry-specific factors acquirers examine, and the implications for overseas acquirers.
1. Market Structure — Orders of About ¥500bn and Drivers of Consolidation
Scope and statistics
In this article, the pump industry covers manufacturers of the pumps classified in the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) Current Survey of Production (centrifugal, axial and mixed-flow, rotary, corrosion-resistant, submersible and other pumps), together with companies that sell and service them. Vacuum pumps are reported on the same METI survey form as pumps, compressors and fans, but their demand comes largely from semiconductor equipment; we show their production value separately. Hydraulic pumps are reported as hydraulic equipment in a separate survey and fall outside the statistical scope of this article, although we cover one acquisition of a hydraulic pump maker by a customer in Case 4.
The three sources below count differently. The Japan Society of Industrial Machinery Manufacturers (JSIM) reports orders by fiscal year, METI’s production survey reports production value by calendar year, and METI’s Economic Structure Survey reports the value of manufactured goods shipped by establishments. Their coverage of establishments and products also differs, so the values cannot be compared directly.
Market size
According to JSIM, pump orders in FY2025 (April 2025 to March 2026) were ¥502.8bn (~USD 3.4bn), down 0.7% year on year. Domestic orders fell 1.2% and export orders rose 0.6%. In FY2024 (April 2024 to March 2025), orders were ¥506.5bn (~USD 3.4bn), up 6.8%, of which domestic orders were ¥371.3bn (~USD 2.5bn) and export orders ¥135.2bn (~USD 900mn) (JSIM, industrial machinery orders, March 2026 and FY2025).
In its March 2026 outlook, JSIM projected FY2026 (April 2026 to March 2027) pump orders of ¥542.4bn (~USD 3.6bn), 4.5% above its FY2025 estimate of ¥519.1bn at that time and 7.9% above the FY2025 actual of ¥502.8bn. For domestic demand, it cited corporate decarbonization and replacement of aging equipment, and a new five-year national resilience plan starting in FY2026, while noting that higher material and labor costs were still delaying construction work. For exports, it cited data center demand in North America, a recovery in LNG, petrochemicals in Asia and the Middle East, and the power market in China (JSIM, FY2026 outlook for industrial machinery orders).
In METI’s production survey, pump production in calendar 2025 was ¥294.3bn (~USD 2.0bn), up 8.6% from ¥271.0bn in 2024. The breakdown by product is as follows (METI, Current Survey of Production; 2025 values are revised annual figures).
| Product | 2025 production value | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Centrifugal pumps, single-stage | ¥67.6bn (~USD 451mn) | 23.0% |
| Corrosion-resistant pumps | ¥64.0bn (~USD 427mn) | 21.8% |
| Centrifugal pumps, multi-stage | ¥59.5bn (~USD 397mn) | 20.2% |
| Axial and mixed-flow pumps | ¥27.3bn (~USD 182mn) | 9.3% |
| Submersible pumps for sewage and civil engineering | ¥25.1bn (~USD 167mn) | 8.5% |
| Other pumps | ¥24.8bn (~USD 165mn) | 8.4% |
| Rotary pumps | ¥19.4bn (~USD 129mn) | 6.6% |
| Other submersible pumps, including clean water | ¥6.5bn (~USD 43mn) | 2.2% |
| Total | ¥294.3bn (~USD 2.0bn) | 100.0% |
Values and shares are calculated from figures in thousands of yen; because of rounding, the items may not add up to the total.
Vacuum pump production, reported on the same survey form, was ¥67.1bn (~USD 447mn) in 2025.
METI’s 2025 Economic Structure Survey (manufacturing establishments) counts 316 establishments in the “pumps and pumping equipment” industry, with 17,031 employees and manufactured goods shipments of ¥822.1bn (~USD 5.5bn) in 2024, an average of about 54 employees per establishment. The statistical tables of the same survey show 319 establishments, 15,808 employees and shipments of ¥641.7bn for 2021 (METI, Economic Structure Survey, manufacturing establishments).
By volume, JSIM’s shipment statistics for general-purpose pumps (land, submersible, water supply and firefighting pumps, compiled from member companies of its committee and published through FY2024) show a decline from 646,706 units in FY2016 to 608,017 units in FY2024.
Demand segments
Customers, approval practices and sales channels differ by the fluid, temperature, pressure and equipment a pump serves. In M&A, the segments in which a company has a track record shape the set of likely acquirers.
| Segment | Main products | Business characteristics | Cases in this article |
|---|---|---|---|
| Water, wastewater, rivers and irrigation | Axial and mixed-flow pumps, sewage submersible pumps, deep-well pumps, large centrifugal pumps | Ordering mainly by national and local governments and utilities. Installation, replacement and maintenance records are conditions for orders | Hayward Gordon (Case 9, municipal wastewater), Vansan (Case 9, deep-well), Zenit (Case 10, submersible) |
| Building services | Water supply units, firefighting pumps, general-purpose centrifugal pumps | Sales depend on distribution through contractors and distributors | Germek (Case 9, firefighting) |
| Process industries and power | Multi-stage centrifugal, corrosion-resistant, canned motor and metering pumps | Design to customer specifications and approval records. Aftermarket service is part of earnings | Shin Nippon Machinery (Case 1), LEWA (Case 8), Iwaki Nordic (Case 11) |
| Liquefied gas and hydrogen | Cryogenic pumps | Design for cryogenic fluids and plant references | Cryogenic Industries (Case 8) |
| Components built into equipment | Small pumps, trochoid pumps, hydraulic pumps | Designed into water heaters, machine tools and specialty vehicles, and supplied on a continuing basis | Ogiwara (Case 3), OSK (Case 4), Nippon Oil Pump (Case 5) |
| Semiconductors and vacuum | Vacuum pumps | Development with, and approval by, semiconductor equipment makers | Seiko Instruments’ turbomolecular pump business (Case 6) |
Five drivers of consolidation
- Replacement of public infrastructure and construction costs — According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT), the share of river management facilities (about 28,000 facilities, including floodgates and pumping and drainage stations) that are 50 years old or more is projected to rise from about 22% in March 2023 to about 42% in March 2030 and about 65% in March 2040 (MLIT, current and future aging of infrastructure). JSIM attributed domestic pump demand in FY2025 to continued replacement under the national resilience program, while higher construction costs, weakness in the steel industry and lower aftermarket work following the closure of inefficient coal-fired power plants held growth back. Acquirers examine installation and maintenance records and service capacity when assessing a target’s order outlook.
- Energy efficiency and integration of motors and controls — In agreeing to acquire Mitsubishi Electric’s motor business, Ebara stated that motors are the power source of industrial machinery such as pumps and fans, cited a Japan Electrical Manufacturers’ Association estimate that motors account for about 55% of Japan’s total electricity consumption, and said it would offer energy-saving solutions integrating motors and rotation control (Case 2). In Case 2, a pump maker is moving beyond the pump itself into the motors that drive it.
- Energy transition and overseas demand — JSIM cited North American data centers, LNG and petrochemicals in Asia and the Middle East as reasons for its FY2026 export outlook. Nikkiso described its 2022 sale of Germany’s LEWA as concentrating resources on next-generation energy markets, and its 2017 acquisition of a US cryogenic equipment group as an opportunity to enter markets including industrial gases and hydrogen (Case 8). In October 2026, Ebara announced the full operation of a product testing and development center for liquid hydrogen pumps. About half of Tsurumi Manufacturing’s FY2026/3 revenue came from customers located outside Japan. The overseas acquisitions in Section 5 were explained by entry into such markets (Case 8) and by access to regional markets (Case 9).
- Portfolio review by industrial groups — Sumitomo Heavy Industries explained its sale of Shin Nippon Machinery as part of accelerating “selection and concentration” under its Medium-Term Management Plan 2026, and stated that opportunities for collaboration across segments and for integration into its businesses had been limited (Case 1). Mitsubishi Electric is transferring its three-phase motor business to Ebara while keeping its spindle and servo motor business (Case 2). In both cases, a non-core pump-related business of a large group is moving to a pump maker; Case 2 is scheduled to complete in 2026.
- Business succession — Japan’s Small and Medium Enterprise Agency estimated that by 2025 about 2.45 million owners of small and medium-sized enterprises would be over 70, that about half of them (1.27 million) would have no designated successor, and that if closures increased unchecked, a cumulative 6.5 million jobs and about ¥22tn (~USD 147bn) of GDP could be lost by 2025 (SME Agency, Current Analysis of Business Succession and M&A). Within the scope of our research, we found no pump maker that publicly cited business succession as the reason for a sale. Among non-listed pump makers, however, Noritz, a customer, took control of Ogiwara, part of whose shares had been held by individual shareholders (Case 3), and Nippon Oil Pump has changed hands between financial owners (Case 5). Although no succession-driven sale has been disclosed, the options open to owners of non-listed pump makers have included sales to customers and financial investors as well as to other pump makers.
2. Industry Landscape
Japan’s diversified pump major
| Company | Headquarters | Consolidated revenue | Main segments that include pumps (revenue from external customers) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ebara | Ota-ku, Tokyo | ¥958.3bn (~USD 6.4bn), FY2025/12 | Building Service & Industrial ¥241.9bn (~USD 1.6bn; standard pumps, chillers, fans); Energy ¥217.8bn (~USD 1.5bn; custom pumps, compressors, turbines, cryogenic pumps); Infrastructure ¥57.1bn (~USD 381mn; agricultural, drainage, water and sewage pumps) |
Ebara also reports ¥342.3bn (~USD 2.3bn) in Precision Machinery (vacuum pumps, CMP systems and others) and ¥97.9bn (~USD 653mn) in Environmental Solutions. In Japan, it agreed to acquire Mitsubishi Electric’s motor business (Case 2). Abroad, it has acquired pump makers in Turkey and North America and announced an agreement to acquire one in Brazil (Case 9).
Listed mid-size and specialist pump makers
| Company | Headquarters | Consolidated revenue | Main fields and recent moves |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nikkiso | Tokyo | ¥215.6bn (~USD 1.4bn), FY2025/12 | Industrial division ¥137.0bn (~USD 913mn), including the Industrial business at ¥117.1bn (~USD 781mn; industrial pumps and systems, liquefied and industrial gas equipment), and Medical division ¥78.9bn (~USD 526mn) (division figures before adjustments). Sold Germany’s LEWA and others in 2022 |
| Torishima Pump | Takatsuki, Osaka | ¥92.9bn (~USD 619mn), FY2026/3 | Pumps. Sumitomo Heavy Industries described the buyer it chose as a comprehensive maker of rotating fluid machinery strong in high-temperature, high-pressure and high-flow pumps for infrastructure. Acquired Shin Nippon Machinery in July 2026 |
| Tsurumi Manufacturing | Tsurumi-ku, Osaka (Osaka head office) and Taito-ku, Tokyo (Tokyo head office) | ¥77.2bn (~USD 515mn), FY2026/3 | Mainly submersible pumps. About half of revenue from customers outside Japan. Made Italy’s Zenit a wholly owned subsidiary in 2024 |
| Iwaki | Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo | ¥47.7bn (~USD 318mn), FY2026/3 | Chemical pumps and other fluid control equipment. Raised its stakes in overseas joint ventures in Denmark and Hong Kong to 100% and in Shanghai to 90% |
| TEIKOKU (formerly Teikoku Electric Mfg.) | Tatsuno, Hyogo | ¥29.1bn (~USD 194mn), FY2026/3 | Canned motor pumps (sealless pumps with an integrated motor) and metering pumps. Changed its name in April 2026 and now reports pumps as a single segment |
| Dengyosha Machine Works | Ota-ku, Tokyo | ¥28.2bn (~USD 188mn), FY2026/3 | Pumps, fans, energy recovery devices and valves |
| Tacmina | Chuo-ku, Osaka | ¥11.2bn (~USD 75mn), FY2026/3 | Metering pumps |
When announcing its name change, TEIKOKU stated that it would concentrate on its core pump business and aim for further global growth; it stopped its electronic components business in December 2024. Its acquisitions abroad include Crane’s Chempump division in the United States (2003) and Hydrodyne in India (2017).
Pump businesses within diversified companies and corporate groups
Pumps are also made by listed companies in other industries and by subsidiaries of large groups. ShinMaywa Industries (Takarazuka, Hyogo) reports a fluid segment of pumps and water treatment products with FY2026/3 revenue of ¥30.0bn (~USD 200mn). Furukawa Industrial Machinery Systems, wholly owned by Furukawa Co.; Hitachi Industrial Equipment Systems, wholly owned by Hitachi; the water and environment business of Kubota; and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries also have pumps among their products. Shin Nippon Machinery, previously wholly owned by Sumitomo Heavy Industries, became a subsidiary of Torishima Pump in July 2026 (Case 1).
Non-listed specialists
Many non-listed pump makers specialize in particular applications or products. Those covered in this article include Kawamoto Pump (Nagoya; established 1949; 754 employees; pumps for building services, agriculture, fisheries and households), Teral (Fukuyama, Hiroshima; established 1950; 992 employees; revenue of ¥42.2bn (~USD 281mn) for fiscal 2025, as disclosed by the company; pumps, fans and water supply systems), Heishin (Kobe; established 1968; 512 consolidated employees; consolidated revenue of ¥18.8bn (~USD 125mn) for FY2025/12; progressing cavity pumps), Terada Pump (Yamatotakada, Nara; founded 1950; self-priming centrifugal pumps and submersible motor pumps), Taiko Kikai Industries (Tabuse, Yamaguchi; the core company of Taiko Holdings; dry vacuum pumps and gear pumps), Kashiyama Industries (Saku, Nagano; vacuum pumps; consolidated revenue of ¥72.0bn (~USD 480mn) for FY2025/3, the latest figure we confirmed) and Nippon Oil Pump (Kumagaya, Saitama; founded 1919; trochoid pumps; Case 5). Non-listed companies disclose limited information on their ownership and results, and identifying them requires research beyond public databases.
Companies in the Kansai region
Of the companies covered in this article, Torishima Pump (Takatsuki), Tsurumi Manufacturing (Osaka head office), Tacmina (Osaka) and Kubota (Osaka) are located in Osaka Prefecture; ShinMaywa (Takarazuka), TEIKOKU (Tatsuno) and Heishin (Kobe) in Hyogo Prefecture; and Terada Pump in Nara Prefecture. Noritz, the acquirer in Case 3, is also headquartered in Kobe.
3. Domestic Consolidation — Group Carve-Outs and Customer-Led Acquisitions
Case 1: Torishima Pump and Shin Nippon Machinery (completed July 2026) — A heavy-industry subsidiary acquired by a pump maker
In February 2026, Torishima Pump signed an agreement to acquire all 17,397,200 shares of Shin Nippon Machinery (Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo; established 1973), a wholly owned subsidiary of Sumitomo Heavy Industries that manufactures and sells steam turbines and process pumps. The estimated acquisition price was ¥14.9bn (~USD 99mn), plus about ¥100mn of advisory and other fees. The price assumed that Shin Nippon Machinery’s cash would be adjusted to ¥6.0bn, based on its balance at the end of December 2025, through a special dividend and other measures, and the company was to pay a special dividend to Sumitomo Heavy Industries before the transfer. Torishima Pump stated that the price was set by mutual agreement after due diligence by outside experts and a share valuation by a third-party valuer.
Shin Nippon Machinery’s consolidated revenue was ¥17.1bn in FY2023/12, ¥15.8bn in FY2024/12 and ¥19.2bn (~USD 128mn) in FY2025/12, with operating profit of ¥0.4bn, ¥2.2bn and ¥2.4bn respectively, and net assets of ¥33.8bn at the end of FY2025/12. The net assets are before the special dividend, the amount of which was not disclosed.
The seller, Sumitomo Heavy Industries, stated that Shin Nippon Machinery had technology and a track record in steam turbines, pumps and aftermarket service valued in energy and petrochemicals in Japan and abroad, but that opportunities for collaboration across segments and for integration within its group had been limited. It concluded that the business would realize its value under a comprehensive maker of rotating fluid machinery, and stated that the combination with Torishima Pump would strengthen Shin Nippon Machinery’s competitiveness and maximize its value through complementary technologies and products. The buyer, Torishima Pump, cited the combination of Shin Nippon Machinery’s product competitiveness and technology with its own global sales and service network and operating know-how, and described the two companies’ technologies and products as complementary.
Sumitomo Heavy Industries completed the transfer on July 1, 2026, and expects to record a loss on the sale of shares in affiliates of about ¥4.0bn in the third quarter of FY2026/12.
This transaction shows that (i) a heavy-industry group transferred a steam turbine and pump subsidiary with limited links to its other businesses to a company whose main business is pumps, (ii) the acquirer cited the combination of its sales and service network with the target’s products and technology, and (iii) the seller explained its choice of buyer in terms of realizing the business’s value while expecting to record a loss on the sale.
Case 2: Ebara and Mitsubishi Electric’s three-phase motor business (agreed 2025; completion scheduled for 2026) — A pump maker acquiring the business that drives its pumps
In November 2025, Mitsubishi Electric and Ebara agreed that Mitsubishi Electric would transfer to Ebara the three-phase motor and interior permanent magnet (IPM) motor business of its Shinshiro Plant (Shinshiro, Aichi), together with the industrial motor, pump and die-casting business of its Thai subsidiary, Mitsubishi Electric Automation (Thailand). The assets, rights and obligations of the business are to be transferred to a new wholly owned subsidiary of Ebara, with completion scheduled for 2026 after review and approval by the relevant authorities. Mitsubishi Electric will keep the spindle and servo motor business for CNC systems produced at the Shinshiro Plant. No price has been disclosed.
Ebara stated that motors play an important role as the power source of industrial machinery such as pumps and fans, and that motors are said to account for about 55% of Japan’s total electricity consumption. Through the production facilities, design and development capabilities and know-how it acquires, it plans to offer energy-saving solutions that integrate motors and rotation control technology and to accelerate growth in global markets. In a June 2026 notice to its distributors, Mitsubishi Electric stated that the transfer date and procedures were still being discussed and prepared with Ebara, and that nameplates would change for products made after the transfer date, scheduled for November 2026.
This transaction shows that (i) a pump major is bringing in mainly the design and production of motors, the power source of its pumps, together with a Thai pump business, (ii) an electrical major is keeping its spindle and servo motor business while transferring its three-phase motor business to a machinery maker that uses motors, and (iii) a Japanese plant and a Thai business are being transferred together.
Case 3: Noritz and Ogiwara (December 2025) — A customer taking control of its pump supplier and investee
Ogiwara Seisakusho (Ina, Nagano; established 1954) is a non-listed company that designs, manufactures and sells small pumps and water treatment equipment, with 180 employees. Its revenue for FY2024/10 was ¥3.32bn (~USD 22mn), with an operating loss of ¥60mn and a net loss of ¥225mn; revenue for FY2022/10 was ¥3.79bn. At the end of October 2025, its shareholders included Noritz with 32.5%, three individual shareholders with 43.7% in total, and Ricoh with 15.2%. Ogiwara supplied key components to Noritz’s water heating and hydronic heating business.
In November 2025, Noritz (Kobe), a maker of water heaters, resolved to make Ogiwara a subsidiary through a share delivery (kabushiki kofu) in simplified form, which does not require approval at the buyer’s shareholders’ meeting, under which Noritz delivers 12.05 of its own shares, drawn from treasury stock, for each Ogiwara share. On the effective date of December 19, 2025, Noritz received 30,325 Ogiwara shares and delivered 365,416 of its own shares, raising its direct stake from 32.5% to 69.9%.
Noritz stated that making Ogiwara, the supplier of key components for its water heating and hydronic heating business, a subsidiary would strengthen profitability through vertical integration, improve quality control and secure a stable supply, and would underpin the manufacturing strategy of its medium-term plan, Vplan26. It also expected customer expansion, improved technology and quality, more efficient purchasing and lower costs.
This transaction shows that (i) the buyer of a small pump maker was not another pump maker but a customer that had sourced its products as key components, (ii) an existing 32.5% stake preceded the move to control, and (iii) the consideration was the buyer’s shares rather than cash, so the selling shareholders became shareholders of the buyer.
Case 4: ShinMaywa and OSK and WAKO (2021) — A customer acquiring the manufacturing operations of its hydraulic pump suppliers
In July 2021, ShinMaywa Industries acquired all shares of OSK (head office Kobe; plant in Ayase, Kanagawa; 125 employees), which manufactures and sells hydraulic pumps, reduction gears and other hydraulic components, and WAKO (plant in Okayama; 90 employees), which carries out casting, machining and plating for hydraulic pumps and reduction gears. Before the acquisition, OSK was wholly owned by Okubo Seiki Kogyo and WAKO by Wako Kiko. No price or financial information on the targets was disclosed.
For its specialty vehicle business, ShinMaywa had long sourced key components from Okubo Seiki Kogyo and Wako Kiko. By taking over the manufacturing operations of these two sellers, it aimed to secure a stable supply of key components for dump trucks, detachable container trucks and tail lifts, and to strengthen its specialty vehicle products by developing new functional components.
This transaction shows that (i) as in Case 3, a customer that had sourced pumps as components acquired its suppliers, and (ii) the target was the suppliers’ manufacturing operations rather than the selling companies as a whole.
4. Foreign Capital in Japanese Pumps — Out-In Transactions
Within the scope of our research, foreign acquisitions of Japanese pump makers that can be confirmed from primary sources are few. This section covers the three we confirmed, two involving pumps and one in an adjacent field: a non-listed pump maker owned by a foreign investment company and then by another fund (Case 5), the acquisition of a Japanese vacuum pump business by a British group (Case 6), and the acquisition of a Japanese maker of degassing and detection equipment for analytical instruments by a US fluidics group (Case 7).
Case 5: Wendel and Nippon Oil Pump (2013), and the sale to CITIC Capital Japan Partners (2018) — A non-listed pump maker held by a foreign investment company
Nippon Oil Pump (Kumagaya, Saitama) designs, develops and manufactures trochoid pumps, used mainly for oil circulation in machine tools, as well as water pumps and hydraulic motors. In November 2013, Wendel, a listed French investment company, agreed to acquire the company from a fund managed by Polaris Capital Group, a Japanese private equity firm. Wendel stated that it would hold 98% of the company alongside management and invest ¥3.2bn (about EUR 24 million), subject to price adjustments. Nippon Oil Pump’s 2012 revenue was ¥5.0bn and EBITDA ¥1.1bn, a margin of 22% (estimated IFRS figures).
This was Wendel’s first investment in Japan. Wendel described Nippon Oil Pump as a high-quality industrial company and a key supplier to Japanese machine tool makers, able to benefit from growth outside Japan, and stated that Wendel Japan would support its international development. Wendel also described the investment as a way to build a reputation in the region as a long-term industrial investor.
In November 2018, Wendel agreed to sell Nippon Oil Pump to CITIC Capital Japan Partners III, L.P., a fund, at an enterprise value of about 11 times adjusted EBITDA. Wendel stated that during its ownership (December 2013 to November 2018), Nippon Oil Pump’s revenue grew from ¥4.8bn to ¥6.1bn and that it had supported the company’s international development. The sale was completed on November 28, 2018, and Wendel received net proceeds of about EUR 85 million, about 3.5 times its initial equity investment and an IRR of about 29%.
This transaction shows that (i) a non-listed Japanese pump maker changed hands twice in about five years, from a Japanese fund to a foreign investment company and then to another fund, (ii) the foreign buyer valued its supply relationships with Japanese machine tool makers and its room for growth outside Japan, and (iii) the seller disclosed the price level, about 11 times adjusted EBITDA, and the revenue growth achieved during its ownership.
Case 6: BOC Edwards and Seiko Instruments’ turbomolecular pump business (2002) — A carve-out acquired by a British vacuum group
In February 2002, BOC Edwards, the vacuum business of Britain’s BOC Group, announced the acquisition of the turbomolecular pump business of Seiko Instruments, and completed it in March 2002. BOC Group stated that the principal objective was to strengthen BOC Edwards’ ability to develop vacuum sub-systems, in response to the growing trend in the semiconductor industry toward mounting pumps directly on process tools. It also stated that BOC Edwards had used the low point of the semiconductor cycle to make several acquisitions, including this one.
This transaction shows that (i) a foreign vacuum equipment group acquired a business carved out of a Japanese electronics and precision company rather than a whole company, and (ii) the buyer’s objective was a specific technology tied to the requirements of semiconductor equipment makers.
Case 7: IDEX and ERC (2012) — A US fluidics group acquiring a fund-owned company in an adjacent field
On April 30, 2012, IDEX, a US maker of pumps, flow meters and other fluidics products, acquired ERC (Kawaguchi, Saitama) from MH Capital Partners II, L.P., a fund, for an aggregate purchase price of USD 18.0 million (¥1.47bn), consisting of USD 13.3 million in cash and the assumption of about USD 4.7 million of debt, according to IDEX’s annual report. ERC makes gas-liquid separation and detection products for life sciences, analytical instrument and clinical chemistry customers, including in-line membrane vacuum degassers, refractive index detectors and ozone generation systems, and had annual revenue of about USD 27.0 million (¥2.14bn). The aggregate purchase price was about 0.7 times revenue (Syntax Partners’ calculation). IDEX placed the business in its Health and Science Technologies segment.
ERC does not make pumps; its products are components of analytical instruments, a field adjacent to pumps. This transaction shows that (i) a foreign fluidics group acquired a Japanese supplier of components to instrument makers from a fund, and (ii) the target served the buyer’s own customer base of analytical instrument makers.
Cases 5 to 7 show three routes for foreign capital: a financial investor acquiring a non-listed specialist from a fund, a strategic buyer acquiring a business carved out of a Japanese group, and a strategic buyer acquiring a fund-owned company in an adjacent field. Japanese pump makers have themselves been active acquirers of overseas pump companies, as Section 5 shows.
5. Japanese Pump Makers Abroad — In-Out Transactions
For overseas companies, Japanese pump makers are potential acquirers of their businesses and potential partners. Their recent transactions show what they buy, on what criteria and, where prices were disclosed, at what price levels. The multiples below are our calculations from the companies’ disclosures.
Case 8: Nikkiso and Cryogenic Industries (2017), and the sale of LEWA and Geveke to Atlas Copco (2022) — Reshaping a portfolio through acquisition and divestiture
In April 2017, Nikkiso announced the acquisition of all shares of the US-based Cryogenic Industries group, 22 companies including ACD (centrifugal and reciprocating pumps), Cosmodyne (EPC for air separation and gas liquefaction plants) and Cryoquip (heat exchangers), and completed it in August 2017. The estimated price at announcement was about USD 438 million (about ¥49bn). For the fiscal year ended September 2016, the group had revenue of USD 156 million, EBITDA of USD 13 million and net assets of USD 144 million. The estimated price, which included advisory fees, was about 2.8 times revenue, about 34 times EBITDA and about 3.0 times net assets. Nikkiso cited the target’s core technologies in centrifugal and reciprocating pumps, which share technical elements with its own, the expected strengthening of products, services and service networks, and the opportunity to enter growing markets including industrial gases and hydrogen.
Nikkiso also sold Germany’s LEWA (diaphragm metering pumps and process pumps), acquired in 2009, and the Netherlands’ Geveke, acquired in 2013, to Sweden’s Atlas Copco for about EUR 696 million (about ¥87bn), completing the sale on August 1, 2022. Nikkiso stated that it would concentrate resources on next-generation energy markets through a review of its portfolio, and use the proceeds to reduce interest-bearing debt. For FY2020/12, the latest full year in the disclosure made when the sale plan was announced in December 2021, the two companies had combined revenue of EUR 307.2 million, operating profit of EUR 34.9 million and equity of EUR 170.5 million; the sale price (equity basis) was about 20 times operating profit and about 4.1 times equity. Nikkiso recorded a gain of ¥36.9bn on the sale in FY2022/12.
This transaction shows that (i) a Japanese pump maker reshaped its overseas pump businesses through both acquisition and divestiture, (ii) it acquired a business that shared technology with its own and gave it entry into growing markets, at about 34 times EBITDA, and (iii) it sold a business acquired 13 years earlier to an overseas peer.
Case 9: Ebara and Vansan (2021), Hayward Gordon (2022) and Germek (agreed 2025) — Regional platforms for standard pumps
In April 2021, Ebara acquired all shares of the holding company of Vansan, a Turkish maker of deep-well submersible motor pumps and vertical pumps. The price at signing was about USD 108 million; Vansan had consolidated revenue of about USD 64 million in 2019 and 576 employees. The price was about 1.7 times revenue, and goodwill accounted for ¥7.3bn of the final consideration of ¥10.8bn. Ebara cited stronger access to markets in Europe, Central Asia, the Middle East and Africa, and a stronger global supply chain for its standard pump business.
In September 2022, Ebara acquired all interests in Hayward Gordon, which makes pumps for wastewater containing solids and mixers in Canada and the United States, for cash of ¥14.8bn (~USD 99mn), a provisional amount before price adjustment, with provisional goodwill of ¥11.0bn. Ebara cited expansion of its standard pump business in North America by broadening its products for municipal wastewater, industrial equipment and process markets and gaining sales channels.
In November 2025, Ebara announced an agreement under which its Brazilian subsidiary would acquire all equity of Germek, a Brazilian company that designs, manufactures, sells and services pump units for firefighting and agriculture, with closing scheduled for around the end of January 2026. Ebara stated that this would be its 12th new base outside Japan in about six years, and that it was investing in new bases, including through M&A, to capture growth markets.
This transaction shows that (i) a Japanese pump major is acquiring all shares of local manufacturers with production sites and sales channels in each region for its standard pump business, (ii) the price for Vansan, the only target with disclosed revenue, was about 1.7 times revenue, and about 70% of the consideration was allocated to goodwill for both Vansan and Hayward Gordon, and (iii) the stated reasons focused on access to regional markets and sales channels.
Case 10: Tsurumi Manufacturing and Zenit (2019 to 2024) — From partnership to full ownership in stages
Tsurumi Manufacturing formed a technical and business alliance in 2019 with Zenit International (Modena province, Italy; established 1959), a maker of mainly submersible pumps, and subscribed for its bonds. In September 2022, it acquired 36% from individual shareholders for about EUR 14 million, making Zenit an equity-method affiliate. On July 1, 2024, it raised its stake to 48.49% by converting convertible bonds, making Zenit a consolidated subsidiary according to Tsurumi’s disclosure, and on July 15, 2024, it acquired the remaining shares for about EUR 27 million (about ¥4.7bn). Zenit had revenue of EUR 41.3 million, operating profit of EUR 5.5 million and net profit of EUR 4.5 million in 2023. The 2024 price implies about EUR 52 million for 100%, about 1.3 times 2023 revenue and about 11.6 times 2023 net profit.
Tsurumi cited the expansion of its long-term growth and earnings base. In FY2025/3, it recorded a gain of ¥1.7bn on the step acquisition, goodwill of ¥3.1bn and customer-related assets of ¥0.9bn.
This transaction shows that (i) a Japanese pump specialist acquired an overseas peer held by individual shareholders over five years, through an alliance, a bond subscription, a minority stake, a near-majority stake and full ownership, and (ii) the price and the stake were disclosed at the main stages.
Case 11: Iwaki and its overseas joint ventures (2020 and 2022) — Raising stakes held with co-investors
In 2020, Iwaki acquired 60% of Iwaki Nordic, its distributor in Denmark, from the asset management company of the individual who had co-invested with Iwaki for EUR 5.28 million (about ¥612mn), raising its stake from 40% to 100%. Iwaki Nordic’s revenue for the fiscal year ended April 2019 was about ¥784mn and net profit about ¥70mn; the implied price for 100% was about 1.3 times revenue and about 14.6 times net profit. Iwaki positioned the Nordic region as an important sales base in Europe and expected to maximize group synergies.
In 2022, after its joint venture partner offered to sell its interests, Iwaki raised its stake in Iwaki Pumps Hong Kong (IPH) from 40% to 100% for HKD 101.8 million (about ¥1.77bn) and its stake in its Shanghai distributor (IPS) from 40% to 90% for RMB 31.5 million (about ¥642mn), consolidating both on September 30, 2022. Iwaki cited further expansion in the Chinese market.
This transaction shows that (i) a Japanese pump maker has consolidated overseas sales bases by acquiring its co-investors’ interests, and (ii) the 2022 transaction started with an offer from the partner.
6. Industry-Specific Factors Examined by Acquirers
In acquisitions of pump businesses, acquirers examine industry-specific factors in addition to financials. Based on the reasons and synergies disclosed in the cases above, these factors fall into three groups.
- Products and technology — The fluids, temperatures, pressures and applications the products are designed for, and the customer specifications they are approved for. The acquirer in Case 1 cited the target’s product competitiveness and technology in steam turbines and process pumps and the complementarity with its own products; the acquirer in Case 8 cited core technologies in centrifugal and reciprocating pumps shared with its own; and in Case 9, broadening products for municipal wastewater and industrial equipment was one of the reasons.
- Customers, sales and service network — Regional sales channels, distributor networks and aftermarket service capacity. The acquirer in Case 1 cited the combination of its global sales and service network with the target’s products; the acquirer in Case 9 cited sales channels in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and North America; and the acquirer in Case 11 cited sales bases in the Nordic region and China. Outside the cases in this article, Nikkiso cited the stabilization of earnings by bringing in aftersales business when it acquired Atlas Copco’s cryogenic pump business in the United States in 2015, according to its disclosure.
- Production and supply — Production facilities, in-house components, quality control and stable supply. Among the customer acquirers, Noritz cited vertical integration, quality control and stable supply (Case 3), and ShinMaywa cited stable supply of key components and development of new functional components (Case 4). The acquirer in Case 2 cited motor production facilities and design and development capabilities, and the acquirer in Case 9 cited a stronger supply chain.
7. Implications for Overseas Acquirers
Target universe
In Japan pump M&A, the pump-related businesses of large groups have moved, or are scheduled to move, to Japanese pump makers (Cases 1 and 2), and the buyers of non-listed pump makers have included customers that use their products as components (Cases 3 and 4) and financial investors (Case 5). Foreign strategic buyers have acquired a carved-out business (Case 6) and a fund-owned company in an adjacent field (Case 7). The targets in these cases were subsidiaries or businesses of Japanese groups, or non-listed companies with limited public information. In several cases, a supply relationship, an investment or an alliance preceded the transaction (Cases 3, 4, 10 and 11). In our view, identifying such targets requires research beyond public databases, and approaching them works best through direct contact with parent companies or owners in Japanese.
Transaction structures
The cases show several structures: full share acquisitions with a cash adjustment through a special dividend before closing (Case 1), transfers of a defined business into a new subsidiary of the buyer (Case 2), step acquisitions from an existing minority stake (Cases 3 and 10), share-for-share consideration (Case 3), acquisitions of a supplier’s manufacturing operations (Case 4), and sales between financial owners (Case 5). In Cases 3, 4 and 10, supply relationships, an existing stake or an alliance preceded the move to control. The appropriate structure depends on the intentions of the parent company or owner and on the acquirer’s integration plan.
What sellers and buyers emphasized
The parent-company seller in Case 1, Sumitomo Heavy Industries, explained its decision in terms of where the business would realize its value: it stated that operating under a comprehensive maker of rotating fluid machinery would be effective in drawing out Shin Nippon Machinery’s potential, while expecting a loss on the sale. Buyers that were customers emphasized stable supply (Cases 3 and 4) and quality control (Case 3), and the foreign financial buyer in Case 5 emphasized supply relationships with Japanese machine tool makers and growth outside Japan. These statements suggest that sellers and their counterparties in these cases weighed the fit of the business with the buyer’s network, customers or supply chain alongside the price.
8. Syntax Partners
Syntax Partners is a Japan-based M&A advisory firm that acts solely as financial advisor. In any transaction, we advise one side only, either the buyer or the seller. We advise on Japan pump M&A as part of our work in manufacturing, in both domestic and cross-border transactions.
Buy-side advisory
For foreign investors considering acquisitions or capital alliances in Japan, we support the full process: mapping targets based on your strategy, including non-listed owner-run companies and businesses within Japanese corporate groups; approaching owners and parent companies directly; negotiation; and execution. We work in Japanese and English, among other languages.
Sell-side advisory
As an advisor that maximizes the interests of sellers and owners, we support Japanese owners and parent companies considering a sale or business succession. The buyer universe we cover includes not only Japanese pump makers but also customers that use pumps in their equipment, private equity, and overseas strategic buyers. Our transaction support draws on our understanding of the industry, including approval practices by segment, relationships with customers and distributors, aftermarket service capacity, and production and supply arrangements.
Selected engagements are listed in our Track Record.
We welcome discussions at any stage, from early-stage exploration of acquisitions or partnerships in Japan to live transactions.
This article was prepared by Syntax Partners, Inc. based on public information, including companies’ official announcements, IR materials, and industry and government statistics.
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