The Target Report Annual Review – August 2022 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 eleven years, we have chronicled, logged, and commented on the robust merger and acquisition activity in the print-centric business segments. We traditionally take a break at this time of the year, depart from our usual review of the prior month's deal activity, and take a look back at the past twelve months from a high-level macro perspective. Our goal in this annual review process is to identify some long-term trends. Which segments have experienced more, or less, deal activity? What are the trends in the buyers’ rationale to complete these acquisitions? Are acquirers adding facilities to their networks, or opportunistically folding acquisitions into their existing facilities?

We review, categorize, sort, count, and chart the data we have collected, comparing the trailing twelve months (“TTM”) ended this August to the prior twelve months. This year we include the prior three years which bridge the pandemic period. This provides an illustration of the business climate in the printing, packaging and related industries: pre-pandemic, pandemic, and the current post-pandemic sweet spot.