Sonoma, Calif. — The plastics industry's mergers and acquisitions mania may have hit its peak after eight years of deals.
Thomas Blaige, chairman and CEO of Chicago-based Blaige & Co., told members of the Western Plastics Western Association during their annual conference May 17-19 in Sonoma that private equity deals have slowed.
“Private equity exits peaked at 1,318 in 2015,” he said. “2016 was 1,097.”
Blaige suggested the ongoing M&A cycle puts pressure on small and mid-sized plastics processors trying to determine their future, and those vulnerable to “a convergence of processes.”
Whether a business is a supplier, processor or service provider, “the owners must have a strategy,” he said, adding his standard tag line, “Lead, follow or get out of the way.”