Adhesives and Sealants M&A: Reaching Cruising Altitude

What a difference a year makes. In our last “M&A Corner” column, published December 2020, we talked about the sense of “hope and optimism” we were starting to see in the M&A community following a challenging year for everyone. At that time, deal activity across the adhesives and sealants and broader chemicals industry was starting to pick up. On the horizon, we saw the underpinnings for a “perfect storm” of M&A activity.

With most of 2021 now in the rearview mirror, we can confirm that these trends did in fact play out. Put simply, it’s been busy. The rebound itself obviously wasn’t a surprise, but the level of activity and the valuations we’ve been seeing have by almost any measure exceeded our expectations entering the year.