The Target Report 2026 M&A Activity Annual Review

For the past fifteen years, we have chronicled, logged, and commented on the merger and acquisition activity in several print-centric business segments, with a special focus on commercial printing, packaging (including labels, folding cartons, & flexible packaging), wide-format, and direct mail companies. At the end of August each year, rather than focusing on the prior month’s deal activity, we take a look back at the past twelve months.

If past is prologue, and to a reasonable extent we believe it is, the data provides a high-level view of where the industry may be headed. Which segments are attracting buyers? Are acquirers adding manufacturing facilities to their networks or folding acquired customers into existing operations? Is new investment capital entering a segment? Are buyers seeking new capabilities, geographic coverage, or only increased scale? And critically, how does M&A activity compare with the number of bankruptcies and plant closures?

Same Deal Count, Different Direction

In purely numeric terms, remarkably little changed. We logged 191 transactions during the most recent twelve-month period, compared with 194 last year, and 190 the year before. This relatively stable level of M&A activity remains 13.2% below the peak we logged during the 2022 post-Covid boom year. However, stability in the overall number masks significant changes within the individual segments.

In March, we described three paths emerging across the printing industry: exit, consolidate, or invest. Excess capacity was being removed through plant and company closures, mature printing markets were consolidating through acquisitions, and capital continued to flow toward selected growth opportunities, particularly packaging and digital technologies, albeit more selectively than in years past. Six months later, the full-year data strongly supports that observation. (See The Target Report: What in the World is Schutzschirmverfahren? – March 2026.)

Deal Activity by Segment

The printing industry is not monolithic, and our annual categorization of transactions by the acquired company's primary activity, along with analysis of buyers’ rationale for the acquisitions, forms the basis for our opinions and this report. We then dig deeper into the packaging, commercial printing, direct mail, and wide-format printing businesses, seeking to understand the rationale behind each deal, and gestalt the results by segment. We also analyze bankruptcy filings and non-bankruptcy plant closings to determine which segments face the most pronounced business challenges.

The most striking change is in commercial printing. We logged 42 commercial printing transactions, compared with 32 during the prior twelve months. That increase ended packaging’s five-year run as the most active segment in our deal logs. Packaging held steady at 37 transactions, the same as the prior period. Newspapers moved up to 29 transactions, while wide-format declined to 18. Direct mail, which had perked up sharply last year, fell back to only three transactions, the same as the year before last.

The newspaper number deserves some context. Transactional activity does not necessarily mean the newspaper industry has returned to growth. As guest author Sara April observed in our July report, the noteworthy development is the diversity of today’s newspaper buyers. Rather than a few large chains accounting for most transactions, newspaper properties are finding individual buyers with widely differing motivations. The ownership market is surprisingly active even as print circulation, advertising revenue, and high-volume newspaper production continue their long decline. (See The Target Report: Newspaper Buyers Move Above the Fold – July 2026.)

The following chart breaks down M&A transactions over the past four years into the segments tracked in The Target Report. (More granular segmentation is presented in the discussions below about M&A in the wide-format and packaging markets.)

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Commercial Printing

Caution is necessary when interpreting the big increase in commercial printing transactions. On the surface, a jump from 32 to 42 commercial printing transactions might suggest a resurgence in interest in the traditional commercial printing business.

Of the 42 transactions we identified, 22 were tuck-ins, versus 14 during the prior period. In other words, more than half of all commercial printing transactions involved transitioning the acquired company's customers to the buyer's production facilities. Fourteen buyers acquired companies and announced plans to continue operating the acquired production facility, at least for the foreseeable future. Only six transactions represented entry by a new owner into commercial printing, and of those, five were local entrepreneurs acquiring smaller print/copy shops.

We have long viewed a rising percentage of tuck-ins as a sign of excess capacity and financial pressure. In a tuck-in, the buyer generally has little reason to assume the cost structure associated with the seller’s production plant. Customers, salespeople, intellectual property, selected equipment, and other useful assets move to the acquirer. At the same time, the seller or its agent is left to dispose of the remaining machinery and real estate and settle any remaining obligations.

Last year, 42% of commercial printing transactions were tuck-ins, which we considered a warning sign. This year, the percentage of tuck-ins increased to 52%, consistent with our experience over the past year assisting more owners of financially challenged commercial printing companies.

The additional-attributes chart tells a similar story. Only one commercial printing acquisition was driven primarily by the addition of commercial printing as a new service, down from eight last year. Buyers also rarely cited geographic expansion as a reason for the acquisition. Private equity participated in three transactions, up modestly from two, and only one new platform emerged.

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In other words, the rise in commercial printing M&A is not primarily being driven by outside investors entering the commercial print segment, nor by established companies enthusiastically acquiring commercial printing as a new service. It is being driven principally by consolidation.

That pattern was visible throughout the year. Last November, we wrote about the emergence of RoyerComm Prism as a new consolidator and contrasted its developing strategy with Modern Litho’s patient regional expansion across Missouri. Both were examples of companies attempting to gain scale in a mature industry, albeit through different strategies and timelines. (See The Target Report: New Consolidator Emerges – November 2025.)

The numbers suggest that there will be more opportunities for successful commercial printers to execute similar strategies. However, they also contain a warning for owners whose companies remain dependent on the traditional daily cycle of estimating, bidding, producing, and starting over again the next morning. When demand softens, undifferentiated capacity becomes difficult to support.

Packaging

Packaging continues to tell a very different story from the other printing segments. We identified 37 packaging transactions, the same number as last year. Thirty of the acquired companies were purchased by companies already in the business, with the intention of continuing to operate the acquired facility. Only three transactions were classified as tuck-ins, and four involved new buyers entering the packaging industry. Most importantly, when buyers acquire packaging companies, they overwhelmingly want the manufacturing operation as well as the customers.

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Private equity is still deeply embedded in the sector. PE sponsors were involved in 19 of the 37 packaging transactions, virtually unchanged from last year. Five transactions were associated with the establishment of new platforms. Geographic expansion, cited in ten transactions, grew considerably in importance, while transactions primarily driven by adding a new service fell sharply.

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The packaging consolidation story is becoming less about simply adding another capability and more about building scale, geographic reach, and market density within the buyer’s existing product segment.

September provided a good example when Portrait Capital entered the label business, and CORE Industrial Partners unveiled its Momentium packaging platform. At a time when the once-frenzied label consolidation market had already cooled, two PE-backed platforms demonstrated that financial sponsors still viewed differentiated packaging businesses as attractive investments. (See The Target Report: PE Places Bets on Two New Packaging Platforms – September 2025.)

However, the composition of packaging M&A has changed considerably.

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Only 12 label company transactions were identified during the past year, down from 16 last year and far below the 41 label deals we logged in the 2022 peak. Corrugated transactions moved in the opposite direction, increasing from eight to 12, tying labels for the largest packaging subsegment in this year’s data. Folding carton activity increased from three transactions to five, while flexible packaging held steady at five.

The clearest evidence that the label industry had moved into a new phase came in January, when Multi-Color Corporation (MCC) filed for Chapter 11 protection under a prepackaged restructuring plan. MCC continues to operate, and its restructuring differs sharply from the liquidation of a small independent converter. Nonetheless, the filing by one of the largest label companies in the world, following years of acquisition-driven growth and substantial leverage, was a dramatic reminder that the consolidation cycle had matured. (See The Target Report: The Bloom Is Off the Rose – January 2026.)

Corrugated products faced different pressures. In October, we noted that US box shipments had fallen sharply and that substantial containerboard capacity was being shut down. Four corrugated plant closures were announced during that month alone. (See The Target Report: Corrugated Sheet and Box Production – October 2025.) Primarily driven by International Paper, many more corrugated production plants were shut down as the year progressed.

By June, we were examining another pressure on traditional corrugated conversion: right-sized packaging systems that move final box production downstream, closer to where the product is packed. These systems reduce void space, finished-box inventory, and, importantly, the amount of corrugated consumed per shipment. (See The Target Report: Corrugated Demand Gets Cut Down to Size – June 2026.)

Packaging is clearly an attractive acquisition market, but it is no longer accurate to characterize packaging as a growth industry. Buyers continue to pay for good operating companies, and private equity remains active. Still, individual packaging segments are maturing, excess capacity is being rationalized, and technology and sustainability concerns are changing how some products are packaged.

Wide-Format and Related Digital Products

For purposes of our analysis, we separate companies primarily engaged in wide-format and related products from more generalized commercial printing companies. The segment includes producers of banners & boards, fleet graphics, grand-format and experiential graphics, home décor, reprographics, and retail & exhibits.

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Wide-format transaction activity declined modestly from 22 deals last year to 18 this year, still significantly more than we saw during the initial roll-out and growth of wide-format digital printing technologies. The composition of those transactions, however, is more interesting than the decline itself.

Banners and boards increased to nine transactions, while grand-format held steady at five. Retail display fell sharply from seven transactions to three. Only one reprographics transaction appeared in the data, while we recorded no fleet-graphics or home-décor transactions.

Nine acquisitions were completed because the buyer wanted the additional operating facility, down from 15 last year. Four were tuck-ins. Most notably, five transactions represented new entry into the segment, the highest number that we have recorded in any one year.

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Private equity remained involved in eight transactions, compared to nine last year, and three new PE-backed platforms emerged. At the same time, transactions driven specifically by the addition of a new service dropped from seven to only one.

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Some elements of the wide-format printing segment face competition from digital media. Private equity’s multibillion-dollar investment in Clear Channel Outdoor fell outside the wide-format printing deal data we track, but the deal's economic rationale is highly relevant to print providers serving the display market. Value in outdoor advertising continues to migrate toward electronic displays, software, data, and recurring digital inventory rather than the recurring replacement of printed billboard panels, leading to closures of companies formerly dedicated to this specialized market. (See The Target Report: Private Equity Bets Big on Digital Billboards – February 2026.)

At the higher end of the wide-format market, complex experiential work, sophisticated installation, structural capabilities, media integration, and project management continue to provide differentiation. At the other end, generic wide-format output is becoming increasingly commoditized.

Direct Mail

In our lexicon and analysis, high-volume direct mail printing companies are in a class by themselves, apart from the more generalized undifferentiated “job-shop” commercial printing companies that may offer some mailing capabilities. Many direct mail shops also manage, manipulate, store, and utilize data to drive improved results for their customers. Some have expanded into full-service marketing support companies, blending digital communication channels with mail campaigns.

Last year, transactional activity in direct mail perked up dramatically after several quiet years. This year, it fell back just as quickly. We identified only three direct mail transactions, down from eleven in the prior period. Two buyers acquired operating facilities, and one represented a new entrant. We identified no tuck-in transactions.

Interestingly, all three transactions involved private equity-backed buyers, suggesting the decline in deal volume should not be interpreted as a wholesale loss of investor interest in direct mail. There were simply very few transactions to count.

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The distress indicators also improved. We recorded no direct-mail bankruptcy filings during the period, compared with six in the prior year’s data set, and non-bankruptcy closures declined to three.

Direct mail is a specialized business with characteristics that distinguish it from general commercial printing. Data management, postal expertise, regulatory compliance, workflow automation, disaster recovery, and geographically redundant production capabilities can create meaningful barriers to entry. But after last year’s burst of M&A, buyers appear to have largely stayed on the sidelines during the most recent period.

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Challenged Segments

Transactional activity within an industry segment suggests something is changing. It does not, in itself, tell us whether that change is positive or negative. For that reason, we compare M&A activity with bankruptcy filings and non-bankruptcy plant closures.

Our longstanding thesis is that high transaction activity accompanied by significant bankruptcies, closures, and tuck-ins is generally indicative of a market in contraction. Consolidation opportunities may be plentiful. The pricing and transaction structure in this market condition will reflect the underlying pressure. Conversely, high transaction activity accompanied by relatively little distress usually indicates a market in which acquirers are competing for operating businesses and capacity. Acquisition multiples will be higher and transaction structures will be more favorable to the sellers. This year’s data includes clear examples of both.

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Bankruptcy filings increased again during the past twelve months, to 37, up from 35. The increase by itself is modest, but the trend is now difficult to dismiss. Bankruptcy filings have risen for three consecutive years from the recent low of 20 in the TTM period ending August 2023. Even so, filings remain below the elevated totals experienced in 2019 and 2020.

We also track non-bankruptcy closures, which have followed a similar upward trajectory. Unlike bankruptcies, however, non-bankruptcy closures are now at the highest level in the fifteen years we have tracked them.

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As the next chart clearly shows, commercial printing again holds the ignominious first-place position, with 14 bankruptcy filings. Wide-format stands out this year with seven filings, a material increase. Books and packaging each had four. The remainder was scattered among several other segments.

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The combination of M&A, tuck-ins, closures, and bankruptcies makes commercial printing the clearest example of a contracting market undergoing consolidation. We logged 42 acquisitions, but 22 were tuck-ins. At the same time, 14 commercial printers filed for bankruptcy and 12 commercial printing facilities closed outside of bankruptcy. That is not evidence that commercial printing is disappearing. It is evidence that there is too much capacity relative to demand, and the industry continues the long process of removing it.

Packaging is more complicated. Packaging generated 37 acquisitions, including 30 in which the acquired facility remained important to the buyer. Private equity participated in more than half of the deals, pointing to a still-healthy acquisition market in the packaging segments.

Yet 22 packaging plants closed during the period, double the 11 in the prior year, and four packaging companies filed for bankruptcy. Packaging accounted for roughly one-third of all the non-bankruptcy closures we recorded. That does not mean that 22 independent packaging businesses failed. Plant closures within large packaging organizations often reflect rationalization of manufacturing networks following acquisitions, shifts in regional demand, or the removal of older, less-efficient capacity. Accounting for many of the non-bankruptcy closures in the packaging segment, International Paper is in the midst of a major restructuring after its January 2025 purchase of DS Smith and the planned spin-off of its European operations, including the acquired DS Smith and its own legacy European assets. Nonetheless, the contrast with prior years is striking and reflects a major shift in the production of packaging grades and corrugated boxes in the US.

Combined with MCC's bankruptcy, the data shows that while packaging is still attractive to buyers; the segment is no longer immune to capacity correction.

Wide-format presents a similar contrast. Eighteen companies were acquired, private equity participated in eight transactions, and three new platforms were formed. At the same time, seven wide-format businesses filed for bankruptcy and four facilities closed. The best and most differentiated operators continue to attract institutional capital, while weaker competitors face increasing pressure.

The broader non-bankruptcy closure trend is perhaps the most significant indicator in this year’s review. We identified 65 closures, compared with 64 in the prior period, based on our updated historical data. The total is essentially unchanged, but both years stand dramatically above the 23 closures recorded only four years ago. More important than the total is the change in composition.

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Last year, much of the elevated closure activity could be attributed to restructuring among paper and materials manufacturers and to continued contraction in newspaper printing. This year, materials-manufacturing closures dropped from 13 to only two, while newspaper closures declined from eleven to four. Yet the overall total did not come down. Instead, closures moved downstream. Packaging closures increased to 22 from eleven, and commercial printing closures increased to 12 from five. Wide-format closures also increased. The pressure has migrated.

Not every company confronting these pressures ends up in bankruptcy court. In fact, for many smaller printing companies, a formal bankruptcy proceeding is often the least desirable alternative. An orderly sale of the customer relationships through a tuck-in transaction, followed by a controlled wind-down of the remaining operation, can frequently produce a better outcome for the owner, employees, customers, and creditors. That is why tuck-ins remain such an important component of our data.

The bankruptcy cases that did make headlines this year also illustrated very different forms of stress. MCC represented the consequences that can accompany a highly leveraged consolidation strategy when industry growth slows. Callaway Arts & Entertainment demonstrated both the opportunity and the risk inherent in positioning print as an expensive luxury and collectible medium. (See The Target Report: Madonna, Bob Dylan & the Sistine Chapel – April 2026).

In a very different case, Diamond Comic Distributors illustrated how downstream disruption in distribution can reverberate back through publishers, printers, and other suppliers, even when printing itself is not the source of the problem. (See The Target Report: Batman is Trapped Inside a Warehouse – May 2026.)

Exit, Consolidate, or Invest

One year ago, uncertainty ruled the day. The 2025 Target Report Annual Review featured a picture of an airport runway, raising the question: was the industry expecting a soft landing, ready to take off on another surge, as occurred in 2021 and 2022, or stall out and bump along?

The uncertainty has not disappeared, but after another twelve months of data, the forces shaping the industry have become easier to identify. Commercial printing is consolidating at an accelerated pace. M&A is up in the commercial printing segment, but so are tuck-ins, bankruptcies, and closures.

Packaging continues to be a strong acquisition market, but the market has clearly matured. Labels have cooled. Corrugated is adjusting to excess capacity and technological change. Large packaging companies are rationalizing production networks even as investors continue to acquire desirable operating plants.

Wide-format has become more selective. Differentiated businesses continue to attract private equity and new investment platforms, while less-distinctive operators face increasing competition and financial pressure.

Direct mail is strategically important to the companies that participate in it, but its transaction volume has once again gone quiet. Although the distress data is relatively benign, industry conversations point to materially lower mail volumes and increasing pressure on some operators, suggesting possible headwinds ahead.

And across all of these segments, owners and investors are making choices. Some will exit, voluntarily or otherwise. Some will consolidate, acquiring competitors, customer relationships, geographic density, and scale. Others will enter and invest, or re-invest in companies with differentiated products, defensible customers, technology, specialized knowledge, recurring demand, geographic reach, or superior operating performance.

The compass does not point toward one destination for the printing, packaging, and graphic communications industries. But it increasingly points away from the middle.

Differentiated, efficient, and financially sound companies will continue to find opportunities to grow. Companies caught with excess capacity, undifferentiated services, or unsustainable capital structures will become part of somebody else’s consolidation strategy or just close up and disappear.

We will continue to watch and report as we enter our sixteenth year researching M&A activity in the printing, packaging, and related industries. Stay tuned to The Target Report.

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View The Target Report online, complete with deal logs and source links for August 2026

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