After almost 50 deals in January, MDM highlighted just 29 during February, which still would have been a relatively high amount during any month over the past few years.

Business partner or mergers and acquisitions concept. Share acquisition, asset business acquisition, amalgamation. Business review and development model. Business common goals and team collaboration.

When industrial distributors and manufacturers report their regular earnings, total-year sales growth may still appear strong even if monthly or quarterly growth appears to slow. Many companies have reported exceptionally strong months followed by relatively down months, and the same can be said about the overall pace of M&A activity.

Distributors and manufacturers kicked off the year with a staggering 48 deals reported in January, the highest single monthly total reported by MDM in more than two years. And although the pace of M&A activity slowed in February, we still reported on 29 deals during the month — an amount that would be considered strong for any month over the past few years. It’s too early to tell whether January or February will serve as the bellwether for activity going forward in 2023, just as companies and industry watchers debate just when an economic slowdown might show up to spoil the party (even temporarily).

It’s always worth noting that our M&A coverage isn’t limited to just distributors. We also include M&A news of manufacturers, service providers and other entities we deem directly relevant to the distribution sector’s industrial, commercial and building materials verticals. It’s also worth noting that, despite our best efforts, our coverage doesn’t include every single deal that happened in those verticals over the past month. Some transactions aren’t publicly announced, and others just weren’t on our radar or brought to our attention. Still, we believe our monthly M&A recaps provide a good look at overall activity. Read more about February 2023’s M&A deals below.

February M&A:

These are the M&A announcements — primarily involving distributors, but also manufacturers that sell through the channel — that MDM covered during February 2023 (click the headline for more details):

Check out our January 2023 M&A recap here.

Check out our 2022 full-year M&A recap here.

Check out our December 2022 M&A recap here.

Did we miss anything? Please send M&A announcements to editor@mdm.com. We also welcome suggestions for “Behind the Deal,” our occasional series that takes a deep dive into market-shifting moves in wholesale distribution.

Related Posts

  • Get caught up on the more than two dozen deals MDM covered this past month.

  • MDM looks at another round of earnings reports from industrial distributors and manufacturers.

  • Construction job openings also increased by 82,000 in December, according to an Associated Builders and…

Mark Powell

Mark Powell is one of MDM’s associate editors. He is a former mainstream news reporter and editor and has worked in the online, print, radio and TV news industries. Mark earned a bachelor’s degree from San Jose State University and a master’s degree from California State University, Bakersfield. He has lived and worked in various cities across California, Colorado and Kansas and currently lives in Shafter, California.

Leave a Comment

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Read the latest articles and see your reports.

Sign Up for the MDM Update Newsletter

The MDM update newsletter is your best source for news and trends in the wholesale distribution industry.