Culligan International Company

What does Culligan International own?
The company's primary asset is the Culligan trademark and the dealer and service network behind it. It also owns acquired brands including Quench, Zip Water, and Harvey Water Softeners, plus international water businesses acquired from Primo.

Is Culligan publicly traded?
No. Culligan International is privately held. Its majority owner is BDT & MSD Partners, a merchant bank, with Advent International holding a minority stake.

Who founded Culligan?
Emmett J. Culligan founded the company in 1936 in Northbrook, Illinois, as the Culligan Zeolite Company. The first franchised dealership opened in Wheaton, Illinois, in 1938.

Where is Culligan headquartered?
Corporate headquarters is at 9399 W. Higgins Road in Rosemont, Illinois.

How many brands does Culligan own?
The business centers on the Culligan master brand, supplemented by acquired names such as Quench, Zip Water, and Harvey Water Softeners. Most revenue flows through the Culligan brand itself.

Who owns Culligan International?
BDT & MSD Partners holds majority ownership, acquired in August 2021 from Advent International and Centerbridge Partners. Advent retained a minority position.

What is Culligan's revenue?
Culligan generates an estimated $3.4 billion in annual revenue. As a private company, exact figures are not publicly filed.

Emmett J. Culligan founded the Culligan Zeolite Company in 1936 in Northbrook, Illinois. His first product was a water softener that customers rented rather than bought, an early example of a service model in home appliances. The first franchised dealership opened in Wheaton, Illinois, in 1938, creating the dealer network structure that still defines the company.

The brand became a household name through radio and television advertising built around the "Hey, Culligan Man" call. By the postwar decades, Culligan dealers covered most of the United States, selling and servicing water softeners in areas with hard water.

Ownership changed repeatedly as the water industry consolidated. The company passed through several corporate and private equity owners, including a period under Beatrice Companies, followed by ownership by private equity firms Samsonite-era investors, and later Clayton, Dubilier & Rice. In the 2000s and 2010s it was controlled by private equity groups including Centerbridge Partners and Advent International.

Under Advent and Centerbridge, the company invested in international expansion and acquisitions, including Zip Water (2017), Harvey Water Softeners in the UK (2018), and AquaVenture Holdings for approximately $1.1 billion (2019), which added the Quench bottle-free cooler business.

BDT Capital Partners completed its acquisition of Culligan in August 2021, with Advent rolling over a minority stake. Under BDT & MSD ownership, Culligan continued acquiring: Primo Water's international businesses in December 2023, Whirlpool's water purifier rental operations in 2024, Dutch water company Boshuis in September 2025, and Complete Home Filtration in March 2026. In July 2024, the company completed a $4.6 billion refinancing of its term loan facilities.

Culligan positions water treatment as a sustainability play against bottled water, citing reductions in single-use plastic as a core benefit of its products. The company participates in The Water Council and the UN CEO Water Mandate / UN Global Compact. Product-level certifications include WQA and NSF listings for filtration performance. These commitments are primarily corporate self-reporting plus third-party product certification rather than independent corporate certification; Culligan is not B Corp certified.

Culligan's public record is comparatively clean for a 90-year-old manufacturer. Historical issues have included routine dealer-level disputes and consumer complaints typical of a large franchise network, which are handled through customer service and warranty processes rather than litigation. The company has faced industry-wide questions around water-softener salt discharge regulations in some municipalities, an issue managed through product mix and local compliance.