Where is packaging industry consolidation likely in 2025? Experts weigh in.

The tide may be turning for the volume of mergers and acquisitions in the packaging space. Although 2024 was a lighter year compared with the prior few, analysts say they largely expect the pace to pick up in 2025.

“After a tough year in ’24, I think there’s good reason to say ’25 will be better than a tough year,” said Will Frame, CEO of Deloitte Corporate Finance. “Some folks are even more optimistic than that.”

The COVID-19 pandemic that began nearly five years ago ushered in a period of economic turbulence. Uneven economic conditions are a “really toxic blend for the sort of optimism and growth that really tends to underpin M&A activity,” Frame explained. The recent lower demand environment for packaging aligns with the depressed levels of M&A. But the destocking period “must be behind us. It went on into ’24 way longer than anyone could have expected,” he said.

2025 could prove to be the year for some level of renormalization in M&A volumes as volatile supply chain dynamics and packaging economics show signs of evening out. President Donald Trump’s administration is also expected to have an influence. And private equity could come out of its recent lull, perhaps for more of the megadeals that have cropped up lately.

“Are we going to have more of those big acquisitions? It’s tough to say,” said Michael Roxland, senior paper and packaging analyst at Truist Securities, speaking solely in regards to publicly traded companies. “But I think what we might see is portfolio pruning after the large acquisitions. … I think there could be some type of plant rationalizations, plant closures, business line rationalizations.”

To read the full article, please visit Where is packaging industry consolidation likely in 2025? Experts weigh in. | Packaging Dive. Published on January 30, 2025.