Most Exec Exchange guests speak from the utility side. Chris McIntire speaks from the supply chain, and his perspective has been shaped by nearly four decades of acquisitions. He began as an electrochemistry engineer, in a business later sold to what is now Thermo Fisher. He went on to build Nova Analytics, which became the analytical instrumentation arm of Xylem, and served as a founding officer of Xylem. He then spent six years building Axius Water, a wastewater treatment group backed by KKR and XPV Water Partners. Three months ago, Axius became part of Oldcastle Infrastructure, the US infrastructure business of CRH. In this conversation with Piers Clark, he sets out what founders, investors, and acquirers need to understand if a transaction is to create lasting value.

A fragmented market where reputation outweighs size

McIntire starts with the structure of the market. Wastewater treatment is highly fragmented because no single technology solves every problem. As a result, many small, specialist companies each address a specific part of the treatment process. Their customers are among the most risk-averse buyers anywhere. When a town of 20,000 people invests in a treatment plant, the plant has to work for decades, because a failure diverts public money from other priorities.

In that environment, a supplier’s track record decides who wins work. McIntire’s rule of thumb is that credibility requires 10 years in the market and 100 installations. That standard lets small firms compete directly with large ones. It also creates a challenge when a large company buys a small one: the acquirer has to accept that reputation and expertise can matter more than scale.

The people are the asset

Equipment, intellectual property, and customer lists all matter. McIntire argues, however, that the real value of a specialist water business lies in its people. These are the teams who have solved customer problems site by site, in every kind of weather, many times over. He describes his management philosophy as an “upside-down org chart.” In this model, leadership exists to support the commercial, application, field, and production staff who deliver for customers, rather than to sit above them.

Innovation means deployment

McIntire is candid about the frustration of innovation leads who want the market to move faster. His view is that the sector already has many effective solutions. In his framing, the more valuable innovation is getting proven technology into the field. Utility customers care most about substance (“the steak”) and are skeptical of novelty without results (“the sizzle”). Suppliers who succeed accept that conservatism and work through the network of consulting engineers and representatives who shape purchasing decisions.

From founder-led to scale-ready

At Axius, McIntire’s approach was to acquire founder-led businesses that had already earned their reputation. The next step was to help them succeed inside a larger organization. That meant introducing structure, systems, and a regular operating rhythm, because what takes a business from startup to year 20 is not what sustains it beyond that. He insisted from the outset on the room to do this properly. His goal was not simply to maximize an exit multiple but to build businesses whose people would still be coming to work decades later.

Advice for acquirers

McIntire’s message to buyers is direct: do not damage the businesses you acquire. The qualities that made a business attractive are usually tied to how it operates today, so acquirers should protect those qualities while applying their own resources. He also highlights a shift in mindset. Private equity ownership has a defined term, typically between five and 10 years. A strategic owner such as CRH is a “forever home,” which calls for longer-term thinking about value creation.

McIntire says the measure of success is not the dollars or the number of deals. It is whether the people and operations endure. He notes that he did not fully recognize the success of his work at Xylem until a decade after he left, when the plants and teams were still in place. For water sector leaders on either side of a transaction, his experience points to a clear lesson: the value of a specialist business lies in its people, and that value is only realized if it is protected.