PMCF’s View on the M&A Market
We are pleased to provide you with our inaugural Plastics & Packaging Monthly M&A Update which is meant to supplement our semi-annual M&A reports and provide our contacts with more frequent information on M&A activity in the dynamic plastics and packaging industries.
In October 2019, M&A activity posted declines in both plastics and packaging sectors compared to a very strong month last year. Year-to-date activity remains healthy overall with the plastics sector up 3.6% and the packaging sector down by less than 1% when compared to elevated levels last year. Injection Molding and Specialty sub-segments in the plastics sector are showing notable increases for the year while the packaging sector sub-segments are pretty consistent. Both strategic and private equity buyers remain active but we are seeing higher levels of private equity add-on activity in the past couple of months. Outlook for the remainder of the year looks favorable with multiples continuing to be reported at elevated levels across several sub-segments and there seems to be a good number of deals in the market that should close or be announced by the end of the year.
PMCF Industry M&A Activity Tracking
Notable M&A Activity
Major News in Plastics & Packaging
- Plastics News: A quiet October for commodity resin prices
- Plastics Today: First-of-a-kind Coca-Cola PET bottles made from ocean plastics
- Plastics News: Partners take recycled PET flake to food-grade preforms
- Fastmarkets RISI: Containerboard – October box demand down 0.5%, YTD demand precisely flat; low-priced exports surprisingly surge
Public Entity Performance
Packaging M&A Update – February 2026
Global Packaging M&A tapered in February as 20 deals were announced in the sector, down more than 30% from prior month and prior year levels.
Plastics M&A Update – February 2026
Global Plastics M&A cooled off in February following a record-setting January with 31 transactions – down 21 from the prior month and seven from last February.
Packaging M&A Update – January 2026
Global packaging M&A maintained steady volume to open 2026 with 30 deals in January, which was in-line with historical levels for January but below the record 45 transactions announced in January 2025.
Plastics M&A Update – January 2026
52 global plastics M&A transactions were recorded in January 2026, which represented one of the most active months for plastics M&A since PMCF began tracking the sector.
Plastics M&A Update – December 2025
Global Plastics M&A posted 34 transactions in December, one deal fewer than both November and the 2025 monthly average.