Private equity deal news and insights from the London newsroom

Abris Capital among the PE firms in 14-deal packaging round-up; ECI takes majority stake in Croud from LDC; Digital services M&A sees uptick

Hello Hubsters,

It’s Irien Joseph bringing you the Europe edition of the Wire from the London newsroom.

We start off on a high note with a listicle on the packaging sector, highlighting 14 deals recorded in the sector since the beginning of the year. The story also features insights from William Blair’s Julien Lucas on the factors fueling this interest, along with a 2025 outlook for the segment.

Switching over to digital services, a sector driven by trends in digital transformation, cloud migration, tech-enabled services, security services and business intelligence and data analytics. ECI Partners is set to acquire a digital marketing company.

Sticking with the segment, we look at DrakeStar’s Q3 report on digital services M&A activity on the back of advancements in AI.

Packed and ready

The outlook for packaging M&A in 2025 is “increasingly optimistic” as European packaging businesses begin to see more positive volume growth momentum in the second half of 2024, Julien Lucas, director at investment bank William Blair, told PE Hub. It’s already been a busy year for the sector, not just in Europe but in North America too.

Check out the premium version of the Wire to find out the factors driving growth and the deals announced in the sector.

Efficient delivery

ECI Partners will acquire a majority stake in Croud, a full-service digital marketing company, from LDC.

Steady momentum

Digital services M&A activity rose in the third quarter of 2024, according to global tech investment bank DrakeStar’s digital services industry Q3 report.

Read the premium version of the Wire for key takeaways from the report and some of the deals we covered in the sector.

That’s it from me. Rafael Canton will be with you in the New York morning with the US edition and Craig McGlashan will be on European Wire duty next week in London.

Warmly,

Irien

Read the full Wire commentary on PE Hub ...

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“Over the past 18 months, many of these groups have been more inwardly focused on addressing their own demand challenges but we are now in active dialog with strategics around their 2025 M&A pipeline.”

— Julien Lucas, director, William Blair on the packaging sector

Today's letter was prepared by Irien Joseph

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