Plastics Industry M&A Update

RESOURCE HIGHLIGHTS

• The Plastics Material and Resin Manufacturing PPI index ticked up 1.4% from January 1, 2024, to March 1, 2024 but is still down substantially from the June 2022 peak.
• The median EV/EBITDA multiple for reported strategic deals decreased to 8.0x in Q1 from 12.6x in 2023 and the median EV/EBITDA multiple for reported private equity deals decreased to 2.5x in Q1 from 8.0x in 2022 (Q1 private equity multiple is based on limited data, no multiples were reported in 2023).
• M&A deal volume decreased 3.7% in Q1 to 103 deals from 107 in Q4, and increased 37.3% from 75 deals in Q1 of the prior year.
• As a % of total deal volume, PE buyers trended lower in Q1 relative to strategic buyers, representing 46.6% of deal volume in the sector, down from 49.1% in 2023.
• Europe was the most active region in Q1 with 43 deals. Most notably in the European market was Greif’s $538.0 million acquisition of Ipackchem Group in March 2024.