Specialty Products Take Center Stage – November 2022 M&A Activity

The trend toward specialization in the broadly-defined graphic communication industries is clearly evidenced by recent M&A transactions. Fewer companies are trading hands that would be considered general commercial printing companies, with a commensurate increase in deals that involve a specialized print-centric activity or product. As we noted in the latest Target Report Annual Review, the number of announced transactions in the commercial printing segment is at a four-year low. The reduction in the number of tuck-in transactions, in which one company closes up and folds its sales into another, is dramatic, now less than one-third of the total deals in the commercial printing segment (for more, see The Target Report Annual Review - 2022 M&A Activity).

Nonetheless, even with a quieter commercial printing segment, overall deal activity in the printing, packaging and related industries remains robust. A peek into several recent transactions, all announced in November, each in different graphic segments, helps to illustrate how specialization is driving buyers to complete M&A transactions.