Paper Industry M&A — The Consolidation Craze

However, Dan O'Brien, senior vice president of paper operations for Quebecor World North America, believes that it is still too early to tell.

"Right now, it's so difficult to see what is going on because the market conditions are so weak and the paper companies' business is so bad."

Still, he does see some long-term benefits to consolidation once the market does rebound. "You have a smaller group of suppliers who will have much broader product lines. As consolidation continues to take place, the manufacturers will fill the remaining gaps in their product offerings and you will have larger relationships with fewer paper companies. In the end, they will rationalize both their product lines and their facilities. But, the plans that they are putting in place have not been fully developed or executed yet," O'Brien adds.