The Bloom Is Off the Rose – January 2026 M&A Activity

Label Converters Enter a More Sober Phase

For much of the past decade and a half, discussions about mergers and acquisitions in the printing and packaging industries have been dominated by the steady drumbeat of label-printing deals, as often reported here in The Target Report. (See The Target Report: Duking it Out in the Label Business – February 2023). However, over the past several months, transactional activity in the label segment has slowed, and there have been rumblings that the overall label printing and converting businesses face increasing headwinds.

Those rumblings turned unmistakably loud on January 29th, when Multi-Color Corporation (“MCC”) filed for Chapter 11 protection under a prepackaged restructuring plan designed to slash its debt load, eliminate existing equity, and fundamentally reset its capital structure. Supported in advance (hence the “prepack”) by the majority of its senior lenders and its private equity sponsor, CD&R, the filing allows MCC to continue operating without disruption.

MCC’s importance to the industry and the impact of the bankruptcy filing cannot be overstated. As of the bankruptcy filing, the company operated in 25 countries, with over 90 facilities, of which 39 are in North America. The company employs 12,800 people worldwide, with 4,870 of those working here in the US. The parent company has 85 wholly owned subsidiaries and 56 related debtor entities that filed for bankruptcy concurrently with MCC.

The MCC bankruptcy filing is the clearest signal yet that the consolidation in the label printing and converting sector has entered a more mature, and far less forgiving, phase. For many in the label business, including other PE-backed label platform companies, a top contender in the contest for a high-multiple exit from ownership has been taken off the field, at least for the foreseeable future.

A History of Innovation

MCC traces its roots to 1916, when it was founded in Cincinnati as the Franklin Development Company. The founders were impressed by the latest innovations in printing technology, especially the new mechanized presses that enabled the three-color printing process (black was just being introduced as the fourth color at the time). As a consequence of their interest in the new machines, their initial business venture was to incorporate The Printing Machinery Company as a subsidiary. They quickly decided that the business of operating the presses, rather than competing with established press manufacturers, was a better option, and changed the name to Multicolor Type.

By 1918, the company was producing color paper labels. From the beginning, the company focused on big national brands that required consistent color and predictable quality. Early references to the company’s customers in the 1920’s include stalwart names such as Coca-Cola, Colgate-Palmolive, Procter & Gamble, Campbell Soup, and Wrigley chewing gum.

From the humble beginnings in three-color printing, the company steadily evolved its technological prowess, investing heavily in rotogravure printing during the 1950s. Most notably, MCC played the instrumental role in the development of in-mold label technology, which was introduced to the market in 1980.

A Roll-Up of Roll-Ups

The current incarnation of MCC is the product of a steady drumbeat of acquisitions spanning nearly four decades. In 1985, the company acquired Georgia-Pacific's label-printing divisions, followed by an initial public offering two years later. The company focused on building its unique advantage in the in-mold label business, a limited market, while suffering declines in the much larger market for traditional labels. A substantial decline in business occurred when cigarette manufacturers brought packaging printing in-house, amidst the decline in smoking in the US. What followed for MCC was a precursor of today’s challenges as the company limped through the 1990s. There were years in which the company, which was public at the time, reported significant losses.

Beginning in late 1999, the company changed course and began an aggressive campaign of acquisitions and mergers to expand its market position and product offerings. With the acquisition of France-based Buriot International, MCC entered the market for pressure-sensitive labels, which was experiencing significant growth, driven by technological advancements in flexographic printing. Shortly thereafter, MCC acquired Uniflex Corporation, adding heat-shrink labels and tamper-evident bands to its product lineup.

In October 2011, just one month after the launch of The Target Report, MCC made its first appearance in this column and has appeared regularly in our deal logs and commentary ever since. In July 2017, the nature of the transactions changed dramatically in size and impact when MCC acquired the label division of Vienna, Austria-based Constantia Flexibles, itself the product of a concerted roll-up strategy. A year and a half later, Platinum Equity entered the picture and announced that it was taking MCC private in a transaction valued at $2.5 billion, ending MCC’s 32 years as a public company (See The Target Report: Platinum Equity Likes Print – February 2019). The transaction included the assumption of $1.5 billion of debt. When the deal closed later that year, Platinum Equity simultaneously merged MCC with WS Packaging, which it had acquired in 2018.

In July 2021, private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (“CD&R”) hit a double, acquiring MCC from Platinum Equity simultaneously with the acquisition of PE-backed Fort Dearborn, one of MCC’s major competitors and itself the result of serial acquisitions (See The Target Report: Packaging Industry Consolidation in Every Direction – July 2021). While the terms of the CD&R transaction were not disclosed, it is a safe assumption that the multiple, layered transactions involved significant debt placed on the combined, and now truly global, organization. According to documents filed with the Bankruptcy Court, as of the filing date, the company’s aggregate outstanding principal amount of prepetition debt obligations stood at $5.9 billion.

The Prepack

In its bankruptcy filing, MCC’s Chief Restructuring Officer outlines a familiar but unforgiving sequence of events. Demand for labels surged as business activity resumed following the Covid shutdowns, colliding with material shortages, labor constraints, and rising input costs. Like many printing and packaging companies, MCC was slow to fully reprice its work to reflect this new cost structure. By prioritizing key customers and managing constrained capacity, the company ceded market share in parts of its business as conditions began to normalize.

The post-Covid demand surge proved temporary. As customers worked through excess inventories, volumes declined more sharply than expected, leaving MCC with a cost structure and capital burden built for a higher level of activity. Policy uncertainty surrounding tariffs further complicated planning and execution, particularly given the company’s global manufacturing footprint. These external pressures were compounded by internal integration challenges, including the absorption of the Fort Dearborn acquisition and subsequent add-on transactions, which proved more difficult and time-consuming than anticipated.

The financial impact was material. Revenue declined from $3.56 billion in 2022 to $3.06 billion in 2025, a decrease of 14%. Over the same period, EBITDA fell from $598 million to $409 million, compressing margins from 16.8% to 13.4%, a meaningful erosion for a business built on scale and predictability. With leverage amplifying the effects of softer demand and operational disruption, MCC elected last month not to make a $36.2 million interest payment, choosing to preserve liquidity and maintain uninterrupted operations.

The prepackaged restructuring plan submitted to the Court is designed to reduce net debt by approximately $3.9 billion, provide more than $550 million in liquidity at closing, lower annual debt service obligations by roughly $350 million, and extend maturities by seven years. Of critical importance to the company’s ongoing operations, and in contrast to many bankruptcies, general unsecured trade creditors will be paid in full, ensuring continuity of supply across MCC’s global manufacturing base.

The existing equity interests held by CD&R will be eliminated under the plan, though the sponsor has committed $889 million of new capital to support the restructuring, including $400 million in newly issued common equity. In practical terms, while the capital structure will be fundamentally reset, CD&R is likely to retain significant influence over the reorganized company, subject to final court approval.

From Growth Darling to Normalized Sector

To be clear, labels are not facing a collapse in demand. End markets remain intact, and the category retains many of the advantages that made it attractive for investment in the first place, including recurring revenue and consolidation opportunities. What we believe has changed is the market’s willingness to treat those advantages as justification for sky-high multiples supported by bleeding-edge leverage.

MCC’s bankruptcy filing, therefore, carries significance well beyond the failure of its own capital structure to survive a softening in the market. It challenges the idea that labels were somehow insulated from the forces now reshaping packaging markets more broadly. Rising interest rates and higher debt-servicing costs, softening consumer demand, and the limits of debt-fueled, acquisition-driven growth have converged, presumably sending a message to owners of all label-printing and converting businesses.

Implications for Independent Owners

For independent label converters, the current moment carries practical implications: sellers’ valuation expectations need to reset.

Many owners likely remain mentally and emotionally anchored to peak-cycle transactions from 2021 and 2022, when competitive auctions and cheap debt pushed label segment enterprise value multiples to historic highs. Owners of label printing companies seeking to sell over the past several years could look to several PE-backed platforms and be confident that buyers would line up to acquire their companies (See The Target Report: Private Equity Fuel$ Consolidation of Label Industry – September 2021).

Today’s buyers are benchmarking against a very different risk environment. Sellers who wait for yesterday’s market to return may face a long, potentially unrequited wait for the hot label-company market to reappear. The takeaway is that the exuberance has cooled, and sellers should expect a rigorous, rational process from buyers. Owners considering a transaction should expect more detailed operational reviews and more conservative deal structures. Expect earnouts, rollover equity, and other risk-mitigation deal structures as buyers seek to share risk and build resilience into their roll-ups.

MCC’s restructuring marks a symbolic turning point. It does not invalidate the label sector’s fundamental strengths, but it does underscore the limits of leverage, consolidation, and optimism when fundamentals soften. For owners of independent label printers, the message is not to panic, but rather to adjust expectations.

   

	2026 January - Mergers and Acquisitions in the Printing, Packaging, Paper & Related Industries
	Deal Party #1 (Surviving Entity)	Pre-Deal Revenue (US$Mil)	Party #1 Address	Deal Party #2	Pre-Deal Revenue (US$Mil)	Party #2 Address	Date Deal Public	Deal Value (US$Mil)	Deal Structure (Intermediary)	Notes	Press Links
	Crown Paper Group (Port co. Atlas Holdings)	No Data	Port Townsend, WA	Richmond, BC Packaging Plant (Div. Cascades)	$4,790	Kingsey Falls, QC	1/29/26	No Data	Acquisition	Corrugated packaging	Link
	International Paper	$23,630	Memphis, TN	EMEA Packaging	$8,500	TBD	1/29/26	No Data	Spinoff	Paper & paperboard mills	Link
	Lexington Area Chamber of Commerce	No Data	Lexington, MO	The Lexington News (+2 Titles) (Prop. Main Street Media)	No Data	Lexington, MO	1/28/26	No Data	Acquisition (Dirks, Van Essen)	Community newspapers	Link
	CherryRoad Media	No Data	Parsippany, NJ	The Carrollton Democrat (Prop. Main Street Media)	No Data	Carrollton, MO	1/28/26	No Data	Acquisition (Dirks, Van Essen)	Community newspaper	Link
	Allegra (Carol Stream)	No Data	Carol Stream, IL	Image360	No Data	Lombard, IL	1/22/26	No Data	Acquisition	Wide format & sign printing	Link
	Impact XM (Port co The Riverside Company)	No Data	Dayton, NJ	Jack Morton	No Data	Boston, MA	1/21/26	No Data	Merger	Experiential & brand graphics	Link
	Southeastern	$45.0	Hialeah, FL	Sunbelt Graphics/Dimensional	No Data	St. Davie, FL	1/19/26	No Data	Acquisition	Commercial printing	Link
	Minuteman Press, Buffalo	No Data	Buffalo, NY	XOAR Communications	No Data	Orchard Park, NY	1/16/26	No Data	Acquisition	Printing & copying	Link
	ARC	No Data	San Ramon, CA	Color Reflections	No Data	Houston, TX	1/15/26	No Data	Acquisition	Wide-format printing	Link
	Butterfly Equity	No Data	Beverly Hills, CA	ePac Flexible Packaging	No Data	Austin, TX	1/15/26	No Data	Acquisition	Flexible packaging	Link
	Forum Communications	No Data	Fargo, ND	Sidney Herald (+5 Titles) (Prop. Wicks Communications)	No Data	Sidney, MT	1/14/26	No Data	Acquisition (Dirks, Van Essen)	Community newspapers	Link
	CJK Group	No Data	Brainerd, MN	WLX & Western Logistics Express	No Data	Kansas City, MO	1/12/26	No Data	Acquisition	Logistics	Link
	PPC Flex (Port co GTCR)	No Data	Buffalo Grove, IL	SÜDPACK Operations (US)	No Data	Oak Creek, WI	1/12/26	No Data	Acquisition (TKO Miller)	Flexible packaging	Link
	LBU	No Data	Paterson, NJ	Donray Printing	No Data	Parsippany, NJ	1/9/26	No Data	Acquisition	Offset dye sublimation printing	Link
	Crisp Imaging	No Data	Costa Mesa, CA	Piedmont Directional Signs	No Data	Woodinville, WA	1/8/26	No Data	Acquisition	Wide format & sign printing	Link
	Crisp Imaging	No Data	Costa Mesa, CA	A&I Reprographics	No Data	Ontario, CA	1/7/26	No Data	Acquisition	Reprographics & wide format	Link
	Keypoint Intelligence (Port co. Atar Capital)	No Data	Fairfield, NJ	DataMaster Online	No Data	Rennes, France	1/7/26	No Data	Acquisition	Printer testing service	Link
	SupplyOne (Port co. Revelar Capital)	No Data	Newtown Square, PA	Wertheimer Box	No Data	McCook, IL	1/6/26	No Data	Acquisition	Corrugated boxes & displays	Link
	Sky-High Marketing	No Data	Waukesha, WI	Maple Avenue Printing & Embroidery	No Data	Big Bend, WI	1/6/26	No Data	Acquisition	Screen printing	Link
	United Business Mail	No Data	Minneapolis, MN	Mystic Logistics (Port co. Main Street Capital)	No Data	Glastonbury, CT	1/6/26	No Data	Acquisition	Marketing Mail Logistics	Link
	Bolger	No Data	Minneapolis, MN	American Financial Printing	No Data	Minneapolis, MN	1/2/26	No Data	Acquisition	Transactional printing	Link

	2026 January - Bankruptcy Filings in the Printing, Packaging, Paper & Related Industries
	Filing Party	Date Case Filed	Pre-Petition Revenue (US$Mil)	Case #	Filing Party Address	Circuit	Region & City	Judge	Attorney for Debtor	Notes
	Chapter 11 Filings:
	Sun Color Corporation	1/30/26		26-60112	North Canton, OH	6th	Northern OH Youngstown	Tiiara N.A. Patton	Steven Heimberger	Printing inks
	Multi-Color Corporation (Port co. Clayton, Dubilier & Rice)	1/29/26		26-10910	Atlanta, GA	3rd	New Jersey Trenton	Michael B. Kaplan	Michael D. Sirota	Label printing & converting
	Chapter 7 Filings:
	No Chapter 7 Filings Found this Month	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---

   

	2026 January - Non-Bankruptcy Closures in the Printing, Packaging, Paper & Related Industries
	Closed Company / Facility	Date of Closure	Pre-Closure Revenue (US$Mil)	Closing Address	Related Party	Related Party Address	Date Closure Public	Notes	Press Links
	Washington Post - Printing plant	Jan-27	No Data	North Springfield, VA	The Washington Post	Washington, D.C.	1/29/26	Newspaper printing plant	Link
	The Beach Company	Jan-26	No Data	Coshocton, OH	None	N/A	Jan-26	Printed custom calendars	Link
	Hersteller May Printing & Embroidery	2/12/26	No Data	Graham, TX	None	N/A	Jan-26	Wide format printing & embroidery	Link
	The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Prop. Block Communications)	May-26	No Data	Pittsburgh, PA	Block Communications	Toledo, OH	1/7/26	Newspaper ceasing publication	Link

Industry Transformation – December 2025 M&A Activity

Transformation versus Convergence

For much of the past decade, transformation has been framed as a destination: printers becoming packagers, converters becoming platforms, legacy printing businesses adding promotional products and other services to become one-stop shops. December 2025 suggested something more sobering and more demanding, as illustrated by two very different reciprocal strategic moves. Transformation, as illustrated by two transactions announced during the month, has become a continuous process, one that requires companies not only to enter new markets but to know when to turn sideways or exit them as well.

ProAmpac, the PE-backed, financially engineered consolidation vehicle focused initially solely on flexible packaging manufacturers, announced the acquisition of TC Transcontinental Packaging. This transaction does not merely shift ownership of assets; it marks a major inflection point not only in the corporate strategic arc of ProAmpac but also in that of the acquired division’s corporate parent, TC Transcontinental.

ProAmpac: From Aggregation to Leadership

ProAmpac’s origins are familiar to anyone who has followed private equity in packaging over the last fifteen years. ProAmpac was engineered from inception to be acquisitive. Its earliest iteration was not simply as a company, but a strategy, a disciplined roll-up, assembling a portfolio of flexible packaging converters with complementary footprints and customer bases. In its early years, the approach was straightforward: consolidate the fragmented, but growing, flexible packaging business.

What distinguished ProAmpac over time was its refusal to remain in that lane. In 2016, Wellspring Capital, the company’s initial PE sponsor, handed off the ProAmpac platform to Chicago-based Pritzker Private Capital (PPC), which reset the capital base and enabled the next decade of oftentimes frenzied acquisition activity.

One of those acquisitions was the purchase of the Rosenbloom Group, a Canadian company that manufactures bags, including plain brown bags, printed and branded grocery bags, bread bags, grease-resistant bags for French fries and donuts, fast-food takeout bags, and wine bottle bags. Millions and millions of paper-based bags - unpretentious, simple bags. This was a notable departure from the company’s positioning as a leading-edge producer of flexible packaging and pouches. This was the moment ProAmpac shifted from seeking market density to optimizing for market breadth. With this transaction, ProAmpac began diversifying and expanding its product offerings, marking the start of a strategy to acquire companies with a broader range of packaging products to serve its current and new markets (see The Target Report: Bags, Pouches, Trays & Bowls – December 2020).

The dealmakers at ProAmpac completed no less than ten acquisitions in 2021. In addition to expanding its product line to include paper bags, ProAmpac expanded vertically into its supply chain with the acquisition of APC Paper Group in Claremont, New Hampshire. The acquired company manufactures 100% recycled kraft-grade paper products, a key component in the previously acquired bag manufacturing companies.

Paper was not the only vertical integration move. Earlier that year, ProAmpac completed two other acquisitions that also moved the company vertically within its supply chain, purchasing IG Industries and Brayford Plastics, both UK-based manufacturers of plastic films used in bag and flexible packaging production. This vertical integration represented a fairly dramatic departure from the basic roll-up strategy. (See The Target Report: Packaging Industry Consolidation in Every Direction – July 2021.)

Additional acquisitions continued subsequent to the 2021 watershed period, further diversifying the company geographically, expanding the markets served, and introducing new product types. No longer simply a roll-up of flexible packaging companies based on plastic substrates, ProAmpac had transitioned to include a multitude of fiber-based packaging companies, including the acquisition of three kraft-paper mills. This shift to paper products was further enhanced and publicized with the early 2025 rollout of the company’s branding initiative, “Fiberization of Packaging.”

In August 2025, ProAmpac acquired PAC Worldwide. Headquartered in Redmond, Washington, the acquired company specializes in protective mailers and specialty packaging for e‑commerce, courier, and retail applications. Despite the rather plain brown-paper nature of many of PAC’s mailers, the acquisition was framed positively within the broader strategic shift away from ProAmpac’s earlier positioning as a roll-up of flexible packaging companies. According to Greg Tucker, Founder, Vice Chairman, and CEO of ProAmpac, in the press release about the deal, “This is a transformational moment for our companies; we are creating unmatched packaging capabilities.” Another move to increase its fiber-based packaging capacity came in October 2025, when ProAmpac announced it had purchased International Paper's bag-converting operations.

In the waning days of 2025, ProAmpac announced the blockbuster acquisition of the TC Transcontinental Packaging division (“TCP”) from its Canadian parent company, TC Transcontinental. ProAmpac is paying approximately US $1.51 billion for TCP, representing a multiple of approximately 9 times EBITDA, calculated exclusive of operating leases. The TCP acquisition adds advanced capabilities in the dairy, meat, medical, and pharmaceutical end markets, as well as manufacturing sites in North America, Latin America, the United Kingdom, and New Zealand.

As the flexible packaging sector has matured and simple multiple arbitrage (i.e., a larger company commands higher enterprise purchase multiples) has become harder to achieve, ProAmpac has begun shifting its acquisition strategy toward technology and capabilities. Barrier films, sustainable materials (fiber-based), advanced laminations, and specialized end-market solutions increasingly defined the deal rationale. The acquisition of TC Transcontinental Packaging represents the culmination of that evolution. This was not a tuck-in, nor a technology add-on. It was the absorption of a scaled, global packaging platform carved out of a diversified public company. For ProAmpac, this was, as stated in the press release, “a transformative milestone for both companies.”

TC Transcontinental: Reinvention, Repeated

If ProAmpac’s story is one of gradual evolution, TC Transcontinental’s is one of deliberate reinvention — not once, but multiple times.

For much of its history, TC Transcontinental (“TC”) was synonymous with newspaper and publication printing. At its peak, it was one of North America’s largest printers of newspapers, magazines, and retail flyers, benefiting from scale in a market that rewarded volume, logistics expertise, and long-term contracts. When that market began its secular decline, many peers hesitated, hoping the erosion would slow or reverse. TC Transcontinental did not wait.

In a decision we examined extensively in earlier Target Reports after it was first announced, TC Transcontinental chose to pivot away from its legacy identity. Given the headwinds facing the newspaper and magazine segments, company management made the strategic decision to change course. Packaging, particularly flexible packaging, was identified as a growth engine capable of offsetting the structural decline in print.

At the outset of this strategy in March 2014, when TC acquired its first flexible packaging company, François Olivier, TC's President and CEO at the time, stated that the deal was the first indication of the company’s new strategic plan to grow through diversification. He added that flexible packaging was a natural fit, given that the production process was similar to their current operations, which run roll-fed substrates, and the market offered growth opportunities.

By November 2017, the company had announced its fifth deal in the flexible packaging segment. Lest there be any lack of clarity as to the company’s strategic direction, Isabell Marcoux, Chair of the Board of TC, reiterated in the 2016 annual report that TC’s vision includes “transforming the organization to be a North American leader in flexible packaging.”

In our opinion, expressed at the time, the transformation of TC was possibly the best example of a planned, disciplined, articulate and well-executed strategy that utilized a company’s existing financial strength gained from its traditional foundation, in this case printing newspapers and magazines, to build out an entirely new expertise in a much more desirable (and likely sustainable over the long term) segment of the printing industry. (See The Target Report: Flexible Packaging is Hot – November 2017.)

By 2018, a visitor to TC Transcontinental’s website was greeted with the opening line, “TC Transcontinental is a leader in flexible packaging in North America …” That was a bold statement from a company that had managed to transform itself in just four years from primarily a publication and commercial printer, with no packaging experience, to become a powerhouse in the flexible packaging segment. Upon the acquisition of Coveris Americas, a billion-dollar flexible packaging printing company, the company reported that on a going-forward basis, packaging would represent 48% of the company’s revenue, more than any of the company’s traditional service segments, such as retail-related services (27%), Newspapers (7%), or magazines and books (7%). (See The Target Report: Getting Flexible in Your Middle Years - April 2018.)

When first announced, TC Transcontinental’s move into packaging was a bold bet, trading the certainty of a declining legacy business for the uncertainty of a highly competitive growth market in which valuations were soaring. In hindsight, it was prescient. Packaging did not merely replace lost print revenue; it reshaped the company’s narrative and stabilized its future. TC Transcontinental’s move remains a model for how a legacy graphic communications company can successfully reinvent itself.

From an M&A perspective, the company has remained laser-focused on implementing this strategy. Capital was redeployed. Acquisitions were made. Capabilities were built. Over time, TC Transcontinental Packaging became a credible, scaled player in its own right within the flexible packaging segment. That is, up to now.

December 2025 marks the second act in this story and, at first glance, perhaps the more challenging to understand. Having built a meaningful packaging business, TC Transcontinental chose to sell it. To casual observers, this might appear to be a retreat. In reality, it likely reflects a deeper strategic discipline: management believes the flexible packaging market is mature, the division has reached peak valuation, and there is little marginal benefit from additional scale.

The sale of TC Transcontinental Packaging to ProAmpac is not an abandonment of transformation, but its continuation. Having proven it could enter, scale, and professionalize a packaging platform, the company is now choosing to exit at a moment of strength, as evidenced by the multiple achieved. The majority of the capital unlocked by the sale of TCP is being distributed to the shareholders, with the balance retained and redirected toward retail services and educational publishing — areas where TC now believes its operational DNA, customer relationships, and risk tolerance are better aligned for the long term.

This is not diversification for its own sake. It is portfolio management at the corporate level, informed by a sober assessment of where durable value can be created. Isabell Marcoux, now Executive Chair of the Board, stated, “As we approach our 50th anniversary, TC Transcontinental is once again reinventing itself. We are excited to open a new chapter in our history, with a sharp focus on advancing the transformation of our Retail Services & Printing and Educational Publishing businesses.”

Transformation as a Continuous Process

What ties these two stories together is not packaging, nor private equity, nor even deal size. It is the recognition that transformation is no longer a one-time event. In earlier eras, companies reinvented themselves maybe every few generations, often under duress. Today, the pace of technological change, customer behavior, and capital market expectations demands a different approach. Companies that do not continually reassess their strategic transformation may find themselves in a systemic downward spiral, too late to make the necessary changes.

ProAmpac and TC Transcontinental, in very different ways, avoided that trap. ProAmpac did not stop evolving once it achieved scale; it adjusted its acquisition strategy as the market matured. TC Transcontinental did not cling to packaging simply because it had worked; it recognized when the risk-reward equation had shifted and acted accordingly.

What This Means for Owners and Executives

The December 2025 lesson may be uncomfortable for some, but it is clear to industry leaders. The question is no longer whether transformation is necessary, but whether leadership teams are prepared to undertake it repeatedly. The industry is littered with companies that successfully navigated one transition, from offset to digital, from print to packaging, from production to services, only to stall when the next inflection point arrived.

Together, these two interlocking stories illustrate how survival in the printing, packaging, and graphic communications industries increasingly depends not on scale alone, but on a willingness to repeatedly redefine strategic corporate direction, sometimes in what appears to be a radical change of mission. Transformation is no longer a chapter in the story. It is the story.

   

	2025 December - Mergers and Acquisitions in the Printing, Packaging, Paper & Related Industries
	Deal Party #1 (Surviving Entity)	Pre-Deal Revenue (US$Mil)	Party #1 Address	Deal Party #2	Pre-Deal Revenue (US$Mil)	Party #2 Address	Date Deal Public	Deal Value (US$Mil)	Deal Structure (Intermediary)	Notes	Press Links
	Stockton Sentinel	No Data	Stockton, KS	The Plainville Times (Prop. Main Street Media)	No Data	Plainsville, KS	12/26/25	No Data	Acquisition (Dirks, Van Essen)	Community newspaper	Link
	JohnsByrne (Port co. GHK Capital Partners)	No Data	Niles, IL	Municipal Packaging	No Data	Chatsworth, CA	12/22/25	No Data	Acquisition	Folding cartons & retail displays	Link
	Minuteman Press, Lansing (New franchisee)	No Data	Lansing, MI	Minuteman Press, Lansing	No Data	Lansing, MI	12/19/25	No Data	Acquisition	Printing & copying	Link
	The Vomela Companies (Port co. The Riverside Company)	$377.0	St. Paul, MN	Moss (Port co. EagleTree Capital)	$110.0	Franklin Park, IL	12/16/25	No Data	Acquisition	Wide & grand format printing	Link
	Mimeo	No Data	Memphis, TN	KnowledgePoint Print Services (Div. KnowledgePoint)	No Data	Reading, England	12/10/25	No Data	Acquisition	Print & fulfillment services	Link
	Tara TPS	No Data	Seoul, South Korea	Chicago Offset	No Data	Elk Grove Village	12/10/25	No Data	Acquisition	Commercial printing	Link
	ProAmpac (Port co. Pritzker Partners)	No Data	Cincinnati, OH	TC Transcontinental Packaging (Div. TC Transcontinental)	$1,200	Chicago, IL (Montreal, QC)	12/8/25	$1,510	Acquisition	Flexible packaging	Link
	Sticker Mule	No Data	Amsterdam, NY	Rockin Monkey	No Data	San Antonio, TX	12/8/25	No Data	Acquisition	Label printing	Link
	Sappi/UPM Joint Venture	No Data	TBD	Graphic Papers Assets (Div. UPM-Kymmene)	No Data	Helinski, Finland	12/5/25	$373	Joint Venture	4 Graphic paper mills (Finland, Germany, Austria & NL)	Link
	Sappi/UPM Joint Venture	No Data	TBD	Graphic Papers Assets (Div. Sappi Limited)	No Data	Johannesburg, South Africa	12/5/25	$1,281	Joint Venture	8 Graphic paper mills (Finland, UK, Germany, & US)	Link
	Inovar Packaging Group (Port co. Kelso & Company)	No Data	Dallas, TX	Enterprise Marking Products	No Data	Fishers, IN	12/1/25	No Data	Acquisition	Label printing	Link
2025 December - Bankruptcy Filings in the Printing, Packaging, Paper & Related Industries Filing Party Date Case Filed Pre-Petition Revenue (US$Mil) Case # Filing Party Address Circuit Region & City Judge Attorney for Debtor Notes Chapter 11 Filings: Bottomline Ink, Corporation dba Blink Marketing Logistics 12/31/25 No Data 25-32806 Perrysburg, OH 6th Northern OH Toledo Mary Ann Whipple Steven L. Diller Print management   Sticky Wall Vinyl LLC 12/21/25 No Data 25-08281 Orlando, FL 11th Middle FL Orlando Lori V. Vaughan L. Todd Budgen Wide-format & décor   Chapter 7 Filings:                   Diamond Comic Distributors, Inc. 12/22/25 No Data 25-10308 Hunt Valley, MD 4th Maryland Baltimore David E. Rice TBD Converted to Ch. 7 & from Ch 11   Tricor Print Communications, Inc. dba Tricor Brand Communications 12/19/25 No Data 25-34231 Tigard, OR 9th Oregon Portland Peter C. McKittrick Timothy A. Solomon Marketing & commercial printing     2025 December - Non-Bankruptcy Closures in the Printing, Packaging, Paper & Related Industries Closed Company / Facility Date of Closure Pre-Closure Revenue (US$Mil) Closing Address Related Party Related Party Address Date Closure Public Notes Press Links Pittsburgh City Paper Dec-25 No Data Pittsburgh, PA Block Communications Toledo, OH 12/31/25 Community newspaper Link Smyth - Label & flexible packaging plant (Port co. Crestview Partners) Jun-25 No Data Wilmington, MA Symth Companies Eagan, MN 12/23/25 Labels & flexible packaging Link Quad - Printing plant Mar-25 No Data The Rock, GA Quad Sussex, WI 12/22/25 Long-run publication printing Link McClain Printing Company 1/22/26 No Data Parsons, WV None N/A Dec-25 Commercial printing Link   Domtar - Crofton Mill 12/15/25 No Data Crofton, BC Domtar Fort Mill, SC 12/3/25 Pulp mill, previously produced newsprint Link