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Deborah Douglas is the Managing Director of the

Douglas Group, one of the leaders today in advisory

services related to middle market company mergers

and acquisitions. The firm represents closely held

business owners in the sale of their businesses.

Douglas Group has been active for 26 years, and

has closed over 95% of the transactions undertaken

by the firm.

Douglas is a published author of two books

(including Ripe, pictured) and also a popular speaker

for programs oriented toward business owners in the

U.S. She has keynoted events for Plastics News, the

National Robotics Association, Fabricator Magazine,

Injection Molding Magazine and others. Her talks are lively, story-filled and

energetic, and her topics are near and dear to the hearts of business owners

and C-level executives.

There is tremendous opportunity to create POWER in the flexible

packaging world, using the merger and acquisition heat of today. Companies

with “pouch” capabilities, along with dozens of other creative and evolving

packaging and dispensing evolutions, are among the most desirable

companies in today’s market.

Business owners from all over the world work hard to build profitability and

solidity in the companies they manage. As owners work to build and to thrive,

they often focus on relatively short-term pressures—like fighting to win a bid for

a new customer, or making sure they’re set to finance new capital equipment

as it’s needed. That’s all a very real and natural part of the game, but an

occasional longer term view is so very worth the planning effort, to maximize

ultimate payoff. It can make the difference between a company that slowly

falls behind and becomes weak, and a company that sells for a fortune and

continues gloriously for its employees for many years to come.

For executive management, there is no mechanism more powerful than

the merging of companies, for creating access to new markets and stronger

potential. For owners, the superb transaction may provide the one-time “cashing in” wealth, which can truly be the

crowning achievement of a lifetime!

In the world of flexible packaging, innovations are plentiful and exciting in 2017. Many of the truly mega-sized and mega-

priced M&A deals have recently come from the very “space” that the Pouch Forum is all about. West Rock acquired SP

Fiber for $290 million and Mead Westvaco for $11.6 billion in the same year. Wind Point acquired Novalex back in 2012,

and has since done another five major add-ons. Novalex last year had grown to over 6,000 employees.

In addition to the huge transactions that are so visible today, there are dozens upon dozens for smaller-sized deals,

especially for those companies that are doing something innovative and new, and/or something with just a dash of

technical difficulty, to insulate them from competition.

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Pouch Power through M&A

Deborah Douglas

Managing Director of the Douglas Group

2ND OPINION

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Privately held packaging companies today know that the

premium values come from extreme capabilities to do things

better. They innovate to achieve better function and to

produce clear and attractive display potential. Just looking

through a handful of recent deals last week, I saw mention

of one transaction stimulated by desire for “high-quality,

spouted and retort standup packages.” Another transaction

talked of “shrink wrappers, shrink bundlers, and corrugated

tray formers and loaders.” Next came “horizontal form-fill-

seal technologies for sachet, pouch and stick packs.” Every

other transaction today seems to boast of the growth in

some niche technique or evolving technology for better

packaging.

Our program at the Pouch Forum in June will highlight

some of the most desirable and fast-growing segments

in the industry, which really look hot for the future. We will

share examples of some of the prime hot spots today, and

talk about what’s likely to become even hotter, for the near-

term future in packaging.

The program will then outline a top-most inventory of the

things owners and managers can do, to solidify values for

their companies. It will suggest productive action steps to

help build toward contin-

ued progress in this fast-

changing marketplace.

And lastly, for those

who may be in the midst

of some type of M&A

transaction, the program

will highlight tools for

ensuring maximum

outcomes for equity

holders, along with

boosting opportunities for

employee growth.

It’s a superb time

in the world of packaging and pouches, for both reaping

great reward for ownership, and for building power-house

potential for the next stages of growth.

Join us at the pouch forum to explore what to do, and

how to do it. PS

Editor’s note: To register for this year’s Global Pouch

Forum, please visit www.globalpouchforum.com.

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