Contact INDUSTRY UPDATES Back to News & Insights Plastics & Packaging M&A Update – September 2021 November 4, 2021 Industry Updates Plastics & Packaging PMCF’s View on the M&A Market Global Plastic M&A volumes remained at high levels through September 2021. For the fifth month in a row, Plastics M&A volume totaled 40 or more transactions. Transaction levels in September were driven by active participation from strategic buyers, which accounted for 65% of the total deal volume, or 26 transactions. On a volume basis, private equity groups equaled prior year levels with 14 transactions on the month. Overall, the Plastics M&A market activity has been robust in 2021 and has shown no signs of slowing down over the final quarter of the year. The Food & Beverage end-market exceeded September 2020 levels by 4 transactions and accounted for 18% of deal volume on the month. The Consumer end-market similarly outpaced previous year levels with 12 transactions on the month compared to 7 recorded in September 2020. From a process standpoint, Film led all subsectors with 13 transactions in September 2021, which represented a large increase over the 6 transactions seen in September 2020. Through the year-to-date, Film has benefited from increased private equity add-on acquisitions; 22 of the 35 total private equity transactions in the Film subsector have been add-on acquisitions. Aside from Film, Injection Molding, Blow Molding, Resin, and Color & Compounding helped to drive high transaction volumes for the month, combining to account for 35% of recorded transactions, or 14 deals. Global Packaging M&A remained steady in September 2021, with 23 total transactions on the month. Similar to the Plastics deals in September, Packaging transactions were driven by active strategic buyers, which accounted for 61% of the total transactions. On the year, the Paper subsector has already exceeded 2020 transaction levels which points to the market’s strong rebound from a down year last year. Flexible Plastic deals increased by 2 transactions compared to September 2020 and the subsector has seen transaction growth of 36 transactions compared to year-to-date 2020. While Packaging M&A has normalized over the past two months, robust transaction levels early in the year are set to push sector transaction levels to record highs for the year. M&A volumes in the Plastics and Packaging sectors have been on record pace through the first three quarters of the year. With highly active strategic and private equity buyers and a flurry of sellers trying to get transactions closed by year end, the sectors are set to continue this strong pace in the fourth quarter. Notable M&A Activity Public Entity Performance Major News in Plastics & Packaging Plastics Executives Face Daunting Labor Crunch (Plastics News) https://www.plasticsnews.com/news/plastics-executives-face-daunting-labor-crunch Supply Chain Shortages May Cut Into Holiday Wish Lists (Plastics News) https://www.plasticsnews.com/news/supply-chain-shortages-may-cut-holiday-wish-lists The Pandemic’s Impact Evident on Packaging (Plastics News) https://www.plasticsnews.com/news/pandemics-impact-evident-packaging Corporate-Buyout Loans Near Highs of 2007 (Wall Street Journal) https://www.wsj.com/articles/corporate-buyout-loans-near-highs-of-2007-11632648602?mod=hp_lista_pos2 DOWNLOAD PREVIEW Stay Informed Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest industry updates Subscribe Recent Publications Plastics & Packaging M&A Update – September 2021 Food & Beverage M&A Pulse – Q2 2021 Industrial Distributor M&A Pulse – Q2 2021 Plastics & Packaging M&A Update – August 2021 Medical Technology M&A Pulse – Q2 2021 Follow Us On Home About Team Careers M&A Services Buy Side Advisory Capital Raising Sell Side Advisory Transaction Planning & Readiness Review Industry Expertise Business Services & Technology Consumer, Food & Retail Healthcare Industrials Plastics & Packaging News & Insights Transactions News Industry Updates Perspectives Events ©2021 PMCF Member SIPC Member FINRA FINRA Broker Check Business Continuity Plan Disclaimer Privacy Policy