PMCF’s View on the M&A Market
For July 2021, the Global Plastics market continued its year-to-date trend of strong M&A volume. Monthly M&A transactions totaled 41 deals, up from last year’s totals of 24. Strategic buyers continued to be a key driver in transaction growth for the month, accounting for 59% of total volume, or 24 transactions. Overall, both strategic and private equity buyers have been very active in the Global Plastics market, leading to a robust deal pace through the first seven months of the year.
The Injection Molding subsector continued its strong year of M&A activity, totaling 9 transactions in the month and 76 in the year. Along with Injection Molding, growth for the month was driven by other key subsectors, namely Film, Sheet, and Thermoforming, which combined to account for 19 transactions. Plastic subsectors, as a whole, have performed well from an M&A volume standpoint through the first seven months of 2021, and are not showing any signs of slowing down in the near term.
July 2021 was a strong month for Global Packaging M&A volume as well. While volume fell from last month’s record high, the total of 29 transactions was 71% higher than July 2020, proving that the industry has surged back from a down year due to COVID. Paper packaging continued to lead all packaging subsectors with 92 transactions on the year and 17 in the month. Meanwhile, plastic packaging, which represents both rigid and flexible plastic packaging, is up 89% relative to this same time last year and totaled 10 transactions in the month. Both private equity and strategic buyers have been active in the packaging space this year with private equity continuing its rebound from last year’s levels. Private equity add-on activity experienced growth in the month relative to July 2020, accounting for 31% of transactions.
Overall, it was another month of strong M&A activity for the Plastics and Packaging sectors, which continue to be on a record pace for 2021. Plastics and Packaging M&A markets have experienced consistent elevated activity throughout the year, and the current environment would indicate that these transaction levels will continue through the remainder of the year (and likely longer). If you are a plastics or packaging company considering a merger, acquisition, sale, or recapitalization in the short or longer term, please consider leveraging PMCF’s transaction planning and execution expertise to best position your company in a transaction.
Notable M&A Activity
Public Entity Performance
Major News in Plastics & Packaging
- Plastics News: PP Resin Prices Rising with the Summer Heat
https://www.plasticsnews.com/news/pp-resin-prices-rising-summer-heat - US News: Drive to Charge Packagers for Recycling, but Industry Fights ()
https://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2021-07-31/drive-to-charge-packagers-for-recycling-but-industry-fights - Packaging World: Which Consumer Trends Will Be Here to Stay Post-Pandemic?
https://www.packworld.com/issues/business-intelligence/article/21563396/which-consumer-trends-will-be-here-to-stay-postpandemic - Plastics News: Plastic Product Demand Still Not Back to Pre-COVID Levels
https://www.plasticsnews.com/news/plastic-product-demand-still-not-back-pre-covid-levels - Plastics News: Pricing on the Move for Polystyrene, Polypropylene, PET
https://www.plasticsnews.com/news/pricing-move-polystyrene-polypropylene-pet