Flexibles Fly High, Aim Higher

Expansion patterns look familiar

Twenty-fiveflexible packaging-related merger and acquisition transactions hit the books in 1999—a frequency slightly down from 1998, in which 29 M&A deals closed. The M&A total might be down from last year, but Biggers emphasizes 1999 was host to the largest number of domestic deals yet recorded—24. Domestic tallies reached 22 and 21 in '98 and '97, respectively.