Sensus, a developer and provider of smart metering technology which has a major operation in the Triangle, is being sold by its private equity fund owners to New York-based Xylem in an all-cash deal valued at $1.7 billion.

The deal was announced early Monday.

Xylem (NYSE: XYL) is publicly traded.

Sensus is owned by The Jordan Company and GS Capital Partners 2000

“Xylem is a highly respected company and we are confident that, together, we will have the resources and scale to continue advancing differentiated technology and delivering innovative solutions to our customers around the world,” said Sensus President Randy Bays. “We look forward to working with the Xylem team to ensure a smooth transition and completing the combination as quickly as possible.”

In fiscal year 2016 ending March 31, Sensus reported revenues of $837 million, some 70 percent of which was generated in the U.S.

  • Video: Watch How smart metering works:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKf7dx6fuZA

Xylem says it expects the be to be accretive to earnings in 2017 and added the purchase price is 10 times Sensus’ adjusted annual earnings.

“With Sensus, we will acquire a strategically valuable asset that will accelerate our ability to bring systems intelligence solutions to customers across the water and energy industries, establish a foundation for future growth and create significant shareholder value,” said Patrick Decker, Xylem’s Chief Executive Officer, in the announcement.

“This will be an important milestone in our strategy to move Xylem’s portfolio of solutions up the technology curve. The combination of Xylem’s world-class brands and products with Sensus’ leading-edge smart technologies will create a differentiated offering that will better meet our customers’ evolving needs, including greater energy efficiency, water conservation, and improved life-cycle costs.

“Sensus has a very broad product portfolio in metering and is well positioned in the advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) segment.”

Sensus had some 3,300 employees worldwide with locations in the U.S., U.K., Germany, Slovakia and China.

Randy Bays, President of Sensus, said, “Xylem is a highly respected company and we are confident that, together, we will have the resources and scale to continue advancing differentiated technology and delivering innovative solutions to our customers around the world. We look forward to working with the Xylem team to ensure a smooth transition and completing the combination as quickly as possible.”