As we end a year that was healthy overall for mergers and acquisitions in the printing industry, it’s a good moment to assess what drove the activity in 2025 and what’s likely to carry the momentum forward into 2026.
The industry’s two principal segments — packaging and commercial printing — have different financial parameters. But the macroeconomic trends underpinning them are the same, and those forces remain encouraging for buyers and sellers alike.
Especially reassuring is the fact that the pace of M&As is coming back up to what it was in the early years of the present decade. 2021 and 2022 were record breakers in terms of transactions completed; as M&A advisers, we were never busier. Although not quite as hyperactive, 2023 was a blockbuster in its own right.
Then came the slowdown of 2024 — not because of any shortage of buyers, but because many sellers had decided to hold off going to market.
They pushed the pause button partly out of uncertainty surrounding the presidential election and its implications for business and the economy. The other drag on their plans was a slowdown for the industry as a whole, with real sales growth of -2.1% during the first half of 2024, followed by a -1.1% decline in the third quarter.
We can report that the pace has picked up again in 2025, so much so that in the remainder of the year and into 2026, we expect activity to look more like it did in 2023 than it did in 2024.
It’s All Good
Consider the general trends. Banks and other financial institutions remain willing to lend capital for funding M&As. Interest rates are stable (and possibly will have come down by the time this article is published). The multiples of publicly held printing and packaging companies continue to be strong.
But the best reason for optimism may be that new buyers — particularly private equity (PE) investors — are still coming into the industry. In fact, more buyers are active out there than ever before.
Read the rest of this feature on Packaging Impressions, a publication of PRINTING United Alliance, ASI’s strategic partner.
