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The Target Report Annual Review – August 2023 TTM M&A Activity
Navigating the Soft LandingAs 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 twelve...
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Is a Soft Landing in Sight? – September 2023 M&A Activity
[ˌsôf(t) ˈlandiNG, ˌsäf(t) ˈlandiNG]soft landing (noun) · soft landings (plural noun) 1) a controlled landing of a spacecraft during which no serious damage is incurred. 2) in economics, a cyclical...
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On-Product Printing Promotes & Protects – October 2023 M&A Activity
Most of us do not have to read this label to instantly know that this patch is attached to a pair of the eponymous Levi Strauss original 501 denim blue jeans. The label and the look say it all, these...
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The One-Two Punch Platform– November 2023 M&A Activity
Core Industrial Partners is back in the ring, re-entering the packaging market as a contender in the emerging roll-up of the folding carton business. In 2020, the Chicago-based private equity fund had...
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Climb Another Peak? – December 2023 M&A Activity
Global M&A activity in 2023 fell approximately 20% compared to 2022, according to Bain & Co, a global business consulting firm. Within that larger context, deals completed in 2023 by private...
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Paper-Based Journalism is Melting Away – January 2024 M&A Activity
The churn in newspaper ownership continues unabated. While some newspapers simply close up, there remains a robust market as local publications are scooped up by new players. As it has always been,...
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Stationers in Turmoil – February 2024 M&A Activity
The Stationers across the country are up in arms! Shock waves hit this specialty corner of the printing industry on Valentine's Day, certainly ironic timing for printers and print distributors that...
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Half a Loaf is Better than None – March 2024 M&A Activity
Chatham Asset Management, the owner of R.R. Donnelley (“RRD”), the country’s largest printing company, tried and failed last year to acquire the entirety of Vericast. Not to be denied, however, Chatham...
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Paper Manufacturers Shift Grades – April 2024 M&A Activity
In a classic bidding war that played out in the public markets, International Paper announced that it had prevailed over Mondi in the competition to land DS Smith. It was an about-face for the...
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Book Manufacturing in Turmoil – May 2024 M&A Activity
Change continues to rock the book manufacturing business. Contracts for book printing and bindery services have declined as publishers pull back on new orders and work off the excess inventory that...
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Corrugated Consolidation – June 2024 M&A Activity
There has been a steady uptick in the number of acquisitions over the past twelve months of companies focused on the production of corrugated cartons. Recent deal activity involving the corrugating,...
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Troubled Times for Graphic Machinery Innovators – July 2024 M&A Activity
Two Innovators in the design and manufacture of machinery used in graphic-related industries recently filed for bankruptcy, bringing to light the challenges of being out front with new ideas. One...
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The Target Report Annual Review – TTM August 2024 M&A Activity
Covid in the Rear-View Mirror, Finally Over the past thirteen years, we have chronicled, logged, and commented on the merger and acquisition activity in several print-centric business segments, with...
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Print Providers Seek Variety Via Acquisitions – September 2024 M&A Activity
As the commercial print industry continues to evolve, more printing companies are moving upstream into multi-channel digital marketing services to better serve their customers. Digital marketing...
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Paper Industry Transformation Moves Forward – October 2024 M&A Activity
It didn’t take long. The ink was hardly dry. International Paper’s shareholders had just approved its acquisition of DS Smith, the UK-based manufacturer of corrugated case materials and related...
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On-Demand Print & Merch is BIG Business for Private Equity – November 2024...
The future of print will increasingly be individually customized with the images we want, delivered wherever we want, printed on demand when we want, and applied to whatever products we choose – The...
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Zig-Zagging – December 2024 M&A Activity
From Printing to Print Management to Business Process Outsourcing Printing companies increasingly seek to diversify their service offerings via acquisitions of companies that support their customers’...
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Print Everything Everywhere All at One Place – January 2025 M&A Activity
We are inundated with printed images. While the steady decline of newspapers and other forms of print gives a general societal impression that print is a dying industry, the truth is that we are...
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Think Outside the Rectilinear – February 2025 M&A Activity
As we have noted in prior Target Reports and emphasized in our Annual Review, the salad days for wide-format printing are over. Digitally printed banners and wraps are no longer unique, flatbed...
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Experiential Graphics Under the Lights – March 2025 M&A Activity
There was a time when signage and event graphics were primarily viewed as an extension of commercial print. The business was transactional, deadline-driven, and rooted in production. That time has...
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