GEA strengthens valve portfolio with acquisition of Hydract

GEA has signed an agreement to acquire the business of Hydract A/S, a Danish specialist in water-hydraulic process valves. GEA plans to complete the acquisition by end of January 2026. With this transaction, GEA is expanding its valve portfolio for the beverage, dairy and pharmaceutical industries with a technology that can significantly reduce the energy demand required for operating process valves, thereby enabling more efficient, resource-saving process plant concepts.

Water instead of compressed air: Using valve technology to increase efficiency

Hydract valve actuators use water as the actuation medium, eliminating the need for compressed air which is typically provided by energy-intensive compressors for pneumatic valve operations. Water-hydraulic actuators can be regulated at any intermediate position, providing precise, stable flow regulation across the valve.

In reference plants – such as the Carlsberg Brewery in Fredericia, Denmark – hydraulic valves enable continuous inline blending. They accelerate switchovers in batch production, accommodate late product differentiation and optimize resource usage. In this way, they are an important contributor to achieving efficiency and sustainability targets in brewing, dairy and pharmaceutical processes – especially in cases where various products are processed by the same process plant.

Integration into the Valves & Pumps business unit

GEA intends to integrate Hydract’s technology into its Valves & Pumps Business Unit within the new Division Pure Flow Processing. Hydract’s water-hydraulic actuators and valves complement the existing range of hygienic and aseptic single-seat, double-seat and control valves. This is expected to offer customers an additional alternative actuation option when selecting the most suitable valve technology for every application from a single source.

More options for breweries, dairies and the pharmaceutical industry

“With the acquisition of Hydract, we are expanding our valve portfolio with water-hydraulic actuation technology that can significantly reduce the energy demand for operating our process valves,” says Sören de Boon, Senior Vice President of the Valves & Pumps Business Unit at GEA. “We will offer our customers both pneumatic and hydraulic actuation technology for our modular valve program – with uniform interfaces to engineering, automation and service.”

This would make GEA one of the few manufacturers of process valves that offer a consistent alternative actuation technology for single-seat and double-seat valves.

“For Hydract, being acquired by GEA is the next necessary step from technological pioneering to industrial scale,” says Peter Espersen, CEO of Hydract. “In plants such as Carlsberg’s brewery in Fredericia, our valves have demonstrated the benefits of precise hydraulic actuation technology. Through GEA, breweries, dairies, and customers in the pharmaceutical industry worldwide will gain access to our actuation technology. This will turn a specialized solution into a key building block in our customers’ efficiency and modernization projects.”

GEA plans to integrate the Hydract portfolio into its flow components and system solutions serving existing as well as additional applications in breweries, dairies and the pharmaceutical industry.