For a long time now, the U.S. Army has been recruiting volunteers with the slogan, "Army Strong." When we speak of M&As in the printing and packaging industry, the thinking behind "Army Strong" should remind us that growth by acquisition can be a strategy for sellers, as well as for buyers.
Never give up hope of organic growth, even if it has been a long time since you last diversified your product and service offerings. To accomplish it, do your homework and find a way to set yourself apart from the competition.
It's likely that from now on, organic growth is going to be difficult for most printing companies. The opportunity to grow by acquisition still exists, but not necessarily in the ways that were the norm when the industry consisted of two or three times as many firms as it does now. Tuck-ins are an adaptive response to profound changes in the M&A landscape—and, when managed properly, the key to enabling serious buyers and sellers to get what they want.
Colter & Peterson and Function Control, a leading European company in optical sheet counting and ream marking for paper, board, corrugated and other industries, have reached an agreement where C&P will distribute a new line of Function Control’s paper counting machines for the offset printing market in the United States.
R.R. Donnelley's net sales in the second quarter were $2.9 billion, up $330.9 million, or 12.9 percent, from the second quarter of 2013. This was largely due to the acquisitions of Consolidated Graphics and the North American operations of Esselte.
FiberMark has acquired the assets of Crocker Technical Papers in Fitchburg, MA. Crocker will become a part of FiberMark’s technical specialties and performance boards business in which FiberMark will adopt the Crocker brand name. The deal is expected to close in August.
You shouldn’t think about “campaigning” in the M&A marketplace unless, and until, you have a firm handle on your company’s valuation. New Direction Partners has performed more valuations in the printing industry than any other consultancy, and that experience has taught us to identify a number of factors that enhance a company’s value.
What determines your strategy for an acquisition? There are as many situation-specific answers as there are printing companies, but our buying clients at New Direction Partners usually have one or more of the following objectives in mind. Some are more relevant to tuck-ins (where only customer accounts are acquired) than to sales as going concerns, and vice versa. But, they’re all good examples of good reasons to proceed.
It’s possible to muddle along without a written business plan, and unfortunately, that’s what many printing companies do. But, at the M&A stage—a stage that New Direction Partners believes all printing companies will reach eventually—the absence of a business plan makes it all but impossible to move forward with a deal.
AmeriLam Supply Group has been chosen as the exclusive provider of GMP specialty laminating equipment in North America. GMP, headquartered in South Korea, produces premium laminate films, new laminating methods and systems, and print finishing techniques. "We’re thrilled to be chosen by an international leader like GMP," said Steve Truan, ASG’s sales manager.
