CRANSTON, R.I. (WPRI) — One of Rhode Island's most prominent companies has been purchased by a London-based firm.

Taco Group Holdings, the century-old maker of water-based HVAC systems, has been purchased by Pentair plc for $1.4 billion, the two companies announced in a news release Tuesday. Pentair's global headquarters is in London, while its main U.S. office is in Minnesota, where the company was founded.

Taco Chairman John Hazen White Jr., a prominent figure in Rhode Island business and public life for decades, and his son, Taco President Benjamin White, said in a joint statement that the transaction will "allow us to preserve our values, expertise and customer relationships, which have made Taco successful."

Taco is expected to bring in about $540 million in revenue this year and will become part of Pentair's Water Solutions division, maintaining the Taco brand for its products, the companies said. Pentair also pledged to "maintain a significant presence in Cranston," while suggesting it could find about $30 million in cost cuts from the merger.

The transaction is expected to close by the end of this year. White declined comment while the deal is pending. Taco's advisors on the deal were Goldman Sachs and Doeren Mayhew Advisors.

"We are confident in our ability to unlock significant profitability as we scale Taco, accelerate its growth across commercial markets and implement the Pentair Business System," said Pentair President and CEO John Stauch. "We look forward to welcoming the Taco team to Pentair, ushering in a new chapter of growth and value creation."

Pentair is focused in part on how Taco can help it expands its work on data centers.

White Jr. took over from his father at the helm at Taco — originally short for "Thermal Appliance Company" — in the early 1990s, at a time when the company was struggling, and decided to try and turn it around rather than sell. Taco has thrived in the years since, known internationally for its products.

"Whenever there's a blog out there or something I get mentioned in, everybody writes in to say, you know, 'Oh, he got his wealth the old-fashioned way – he inherited it,'" White Jr. recalled in a 2016 interview. "If people knew what I'd inherited, they'd run. It was a company that was in fact in tough financial straits at the time."

The Whites are prominent philanthropists in Rhode Island, endowing educational centers at various colleges as well as a popular Providence Performing Arts Center series. In politics, John Hazen White Jr. has for years run various campaigns under the banner "Lookout Rhode Island," promoting clean government and fiscal responsibility.