Insights

The food & beverage sector remained active during the second quarter of 2024 with M&A transactions completed across various segments, including snacks, bakery, meats/protein, and ingredients, among others. Overall deal activity in this space has been supported by acquisitive strategics and private equity-backed acquirers looking for add-on acquisitions. Looking forward, as interest rates hold firm…...

The fourth quarter of 2023 continued to prove a challenging environment for the chemical industry in a year that was characterized by significant macroeconomic and geopolitical headwinds, unprecedented inventory levels across end markets and unpredictable demand weakness that put downward pressure on volumes and prices. Companies across the chemicals value chain focused their efforts on…...

2023 M&A Market Review M&A activity in North America slowed in 2023, marking a departure from the unprecedented highs seen in 2021 and 2022. Deal closings in 2023 were more in line with pre-COVID levels, declining 19% to 15,440 from 19,089 in 2022, and notably lower than the height of 21,180 deals in 2021. U.S.…...

Amidst persisting uncertainty in other pockets of the consumer sector, the food & beverage vertical has again proven to be resilient in terms of M&A activity. Deflationary trends coupled with an on-going pent-up demand and consolidation have continued to bolster M&A appetite with healthy valuation multiples for high-quality assets. Entering 2024, we foresee a steady…...

While it may not seem like it, there were a handful of green shoots in the third quarter that cause us to be cautiously optimistic about 2024 (despite executive sentiment reflecting more of a “grey sky” scenario, at least in the near-term). Several economic indicators point to a cooling economy and disinflationary environment – the…...

The decrease in North American M&A deal count has shown signs of slowing down, as illustrated in the chart below. After six consecutive quarters of consistent decline following the peak in Q4 2021, the rate of decrease in deal count appears to be moderating. PKF Investment Banking estimates M&A deal activity stabilizing in the second…...

The food & beverage sector has again been a consistently active vertical in the most recent quarter. As mega deals are slowly being announced more frequently, the sector’s overall M&A activity was mainly supported by middle market deals of smaller size. Despite a few remaining sector headwinds, deflationary trends are beginning to appear at the…...

Are You the Best Person to Sell Your Business? Enhancing deal value and increasing certainty to close are what investment bankers do every day. As competition and technological advances continue to drive consolidation across many industries, it's likely you've been contacted by a variety of buyers, or their agents, interested in acquiring your company. According…...

The uplift in the chemicals sector in the first half of 2023, largely expected from China’s reopening of its economy following restrictive COVID lockdowns, did not materialize, diminishing the optimistic outlook on which a recovery was predicated. As a result, U.S. chemicals companies, most notably commodity companies, are heavily weighted on the second half of…...

The food & beverage market continues to display its recession resilience as demonstrated by a steady stream of M&A transactions. Strategic acquirers’ activity in the sector remains elevated as they aggressively pursue accretive consolidation opportunities. Private equity buyers maintain a healthy presence in the space but have been increasingly selective in their acquisition strategy. However,…...