Hubbell Inc. has acquired Aclara, a venture-capital-owned Smart Infrastructure Solution (SIS) provider to global utilities, for $1.1bn – in what appears to have been quite the bargain. The all-cash transaction sees Sun Capital exit Aclara, which had made a number of buys itself in the past three years, and Hubbell continue its expansion into the IoT. It seems like a bit of an abrupt end for Aclara, as it had been a constant presence in the smart grid M&A scene for a good while. Its VC-owners evidently fancied an exit, and we can’t find anything to suggest that this was a stress sale. What it could represent is the beginning of a consolidation trend to parallel what has transpired in…