Alphabet Soup of Trade Association Mergers – April 2020 M&A Activity
The long and winding road of industry consolidation among the associations serving the printing and related industries may have finally reached its ultimate conclusion with the recently announced...
View ArticleRegional Print Consolidator Builds Diverse Offerings – May 2020 M&A Activity
Graphic Village, based in Cincinnati, Ohio, has added another distinctly different avenue to its diverse community of companies with the acquisition of DMS ink. Formerly known as Dayton Mailing...
View ArticleDonuts Lead the Way in Return to Normalcy – June 2020 M&A Activity
Buyers of packaging companies, both privately-owned and PE-backed, closed on deals in June, a clear demonstration of their confidence in the long-term economic recovery. However, confidence is not yet...
View ArticleBuyers are On The Move and On Track – July 2020 M&A Activity
Serial buyers are back in the market for print-centric company assets, each executing on their own unique and established long-term strategic direction. While some of the transactions in July appear or...
View ArticleThe Target Report Annual Recap – August 2020 TTM M&A Activity
As readers of The Target Report know, we view the printing, packaging, and related industries from the perspective of M&A transactional activity. Over the past nine years, we have chronicled,...
View ArticleCJK Goes Global as Cenveo Unwinds – September 2020 M&A Activity
CJK Group, the grand master consolidator of formerly distressed assets in the book manufacturing and journal printing segments, adds another chapter to its book of business with the acquisition of...
View ArticleDeconsolidation of the Consolidators – October 2020 M&A Activity
It is often accepted as a given article of business truth that a highly fragmented industry is destined to consolidate and that the result will be positive due to synergies and elimination of redundant...
View ArticleDystopia, Social Justice & Steamy Romance – November 2020 M&A Activity
The statistics are clear: people around the world are reading more during this time of pandemic-induced lockdown, social distancing, and free time. What better way to spend some enjoyable moments than...
View ArticleBags, Pouches, Trays & Bowls – December 2020 M&A Activity
Flexible packaging is arguably the hottest segment in the printing and related industries, at least in terms of valuation multiples paid. Enter the old-fashioned brown paper bag, the target of...
View ArticleAs Goes the Industry, so Goes the Trade Associations – January 2021 M&A Activity
It finally happened. PIA and NAPL have joined forces, or at least the remnants of each will now be together under the umbrella of Printing United Alliance. It has been a long and winding road for the...
View ArticleSo Many Books, So Little Time* – February 2021 M&A Activity
"Idiom" Book Sculpture, Prague City LibraryBooks endure. We discard newspapers the day after, magazines stick around a bit longer, junk mail not at all, but books we keep. After we read a book, we...
View ArticleLetterpress, Greeting Cards & Feminism – March 2021 M&A Activity
Who knew? A quiet movement has been afoot in the resurgence of artisanal letterpress printing. Mixing politics, feminism and current events with creative, upbeat, and often downright edgy greeting card...
View ArticleSPACs and Credit Cards for the 1% – April 2021 M&A Activity
A prospective client seeking to sell their company recently asked me if the recent craze involving the use of SPACs to buy private companies might be applicable to their firm. I answered unequivocally...
View ArticleOn Demand Everything – May 2021 M&A Activity
Print quantity of one, available anywhere, anytime, on anything. The vision of on-demand printing, personalized to each unique recipient, is no longer limited to paper. Digital print technologies have...
View ArticleApollo Trades Textbooks for Wallpaper & Pillows – June 2021 M&A Activity
Global Management, the massive publicly traded alternative investment firm, acquired on-demand fabric printing company Spoonflower through its platform company, Shutterfly, the on-demand photobook...
View ArticlePackaging Industry Consolidation in Every Direction – July 2021 M&A Activity
There has been no pause, not even a brief breather, in the steam roller-like consolidation of the packaging-related printing businesses. The driving imperative is to consolidate production both...
View ArticleThe Target Report Annual Review – August 2021 TTM M&A Activity
As readers of The Target Report know, we view the printing, packaging, and related industries from the perspective of M&A transactional activity. Over the past ten years, we have chronicled,...
View ArticlePrivate Equity Fuel$ Consolidation of Label Industry – September 2021 M&A...
It’s a feeding frenzy in the prime label printing and converting business. Fueled by multiple private equity-backed roll-up platforms, the activity has been non-stop and does not appear to be ready to...
View ArticleThe End of the Dotcom Era – October 2021 M&A Activity
The printing industry had its own dotcom boom and bust. It was at the end of the last millennium and the big Print show held at McCormick Place in Chicago was all abuzz about the dotcom companies that...
View ArticleSlugfest Breaks Out Over RR Donnelley – November 2021 M&A Activity
You’ve heard it. I’ve heard it. Print is Dead. If that is true, why did two private equity heavyweights, both of which are already invested in print and paper, get into a slugfest and bid up the share...
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