Business Management - M&A
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.
There are plenty of good things to say about pride. After all, it’s one of the noble impulses that gets us out of bed in the morning and motivates us to do the best job we can for our customers, employees, and others who depend on us. But when it makes anyone resist the idea that today, every print company owner should be preparing either to acquire or to be acquired, it becomes something else. Steer clear of the trap it can set for your business when your moment of truth arrives.
As we discussed in the first installment of this series, the pace of mergers and acquisitions among printing and packaging firms finally is on the rise after years of languishing in the doldrums. That means there's heightened interest in finding out what companies are worth and in determining what kinds of deals can be structured around these valuations.
In M&As, good faith is everything, and it begins with your everyday outreach to the people who work for you. Keep on finding opportunities to let them know that you value their contributions and that you have their backs today and in the long term. That way, when the time comes to share your plans with the workforce as a whole, the things you’ll want to say most will go without saying.
New Direction Partners, the leading M&A advisory firm serving the printing and packaging industries, and North American Publishing Co.’s Printing Impressions Group, which comprises Printing Impressions, packagePrinting and In-plant Graphics brands, have announced a new, multi-channel partnership to educate print professionals about the current industry M&A landscape, as well as to serve as a conduit for specific transaction opportunities.
Whether you’re a potential buyer or a seller, it’s critical to know today’s valuation multiples, deal structures and growth markets.
Komfi, a manufacturer of one-sided laminating equipment, has chosen AmeriLam and other members of the Innove Global Group to represent the company in North America.
In the last blog, I talked about the “Deadly Law of Inflation” and the toll it has taken on our industry. In my opinion, it has also caused merger and acquisition activity to accelerate as though on steroids. The following list identifies the top 10 needs to ensure a successful purchase/sale and transition.