New Direction Partners

Some say life is a beach, and if you’re a beachcomber or a professional surfer, that may well be the case. For owners of printing and packaging companies, though, “beach” is a metaphor for life after selling the business.

Not everyone who claims to be a capable M&A advisor proves to be one in practice. Unfortunately, misjudging an advisor’s credentials can prove to be a costly mistake. Our experience points to a number of criteria that a truly qualified advisor should be able to satisfy.

It’s only natural for printers to take pride in their equipment—the tried-and-true machines that helped to make their companies what they are today. But, when the time comes to sell the business, it’s also time to start looking at the machinery through different eyes.

There are two ways to build a printing company’s top line: by increasing share of market, and by increasing share of customer. Successful companies are good at doing both.

As the owner of a printing or a packaging business, you probably think of yourself as a pretty effective negotiator—and you probably are correct. Skill in negotiating is, after all, a hallmark of the leader of any successful business.

It’s a straightforward proposition: if you’re considering the sale of your business, you should hire an investment banker to manage the transaction. The reasons in favor of doing it this way also speak for themselves.

M&A trends in the printing and packaging industries during the first quarter of 2015 reconfirm what we already knew: that M&A activity has picked up in every year since 2009, and that there’s every reason to believe the forward momentum will stay strong.

Preparing your company for sale can be a complex task, but everything you do will aim at the same objective: increasing value to make what you have as attractive as possible to potential buyers.

Cycles in print markets and in the economy as a whole can play heavily in sellers’ and buyers’ decisions to move forward with M&A transactions. That may just be a case of stating the obvious, but it’s still helpful to review why these cycles occur and what they imply for dealmaking strategies.

Nobody likes interruptions to their best-laid plans, but they happen—and M&A deal making isn’t exempt from them.

Like any other business transaction, a merger is a structured process with a series of steps necessary for its completion. As an investment banker to the printing and packaging industries, New Direction Partners has participated in scores of such transactions.

One of the most useful research tools we have at New Direction Partners is our printing and packaging stock index. With it, we track the stock price performance of nine printing companies and the seven top packaging companies—all 16 of them publicly traded—from 2006 to the current date.

One of the most useful research tools we have at New Direction Partners is our printing and packaging stock index. With it, we track the stock price performance of nine printing companies and the seven top packaging companies—all 16 of them publicly traded—from 2006 to the current date.

Don’t miss this opportunity to hear proven tips on effective succession planning from both an operational and long-term perspective. Whether you're an owner or a high-level manager, it's more critical than ever to develop, implement and monitor a successful transition of leadership in your business.

McKinney, TX-based manufacturer of printed flexible packaging Popular Ink has been acquired by Highlander Partners. Popular Ink will continue to operate under its existing operating structure with its current management team, which has successfully grown the business every year since its founding. New Direction Partners served as the exclusive financial advisor to Popular Ink.

DES Printing has been acquired by The Allied Group, which is now the largest commercial printing and fulfillment company in Rhode Island. The Allied Group has made seven acquisitions since 2000, bringing its annual sales to $20 million and its total employees to 150. The company was assisted by New Direction Partners for this transaction.

The binding community will come together with printers to exchange ideas and shape the future of the graphic arts industry at the 2015 BIA Conference and 2015 Print Leadership Summit, both co-located in Minneapolis this year. All BIA Conference attendees will have the opportunity to attend the co-located conference's main stage keynote sessions and certain breakout track sessions. Registration will open mid-February.

Unfortunately, we have seen them happen more than once: breaches of confidentiality that have disrupted and even destroyed what otherwise would have been successful mergers of printing and packaging companies. Because playing close to the vest in M&As is more complicated than it may seem, a review of best practices in this sensitive area of dealmaking is well advised for every company owner with a transaction in mind.

New Direction Partners Jim Russell and Tom Williams discussed the key industry trends that affect all businesses, and provided a step-by-step succession planning process, along with real-life stories of what has worked (and what has not), in the latest Printing Impressions and packagePRINTING Webinar

Finding and keeping key employees.  Making the right hire.  Finding, developing and training your replacement.  Or just getting out completely.  These are all challenges an owner/manager must deal with effectively to ensure successful business continuity.  And you have to do it, because, it's your job! Don't miss this opportunity to hear proven tips on effective succession planning from both an operational and long-term perspective.