Despite the market volatility and uncertainty seen throughout 2022, the appetite for mergers & acquisitions remained robust in distribution. Even as I wrote this article during the week before Christmas — a week we expected to be fairly slow on the news side — our staff was busy churning out numerous briefs about December deals involving distributors.

M&A has long been a key industry driver for this sector, and despite considerable market consolidation over the past decade, new distributors — often backed by private equity — are launching at seemingly almost the same rate as others are being gobbled up.

This means M&A is here to stay, and even if certain markets experience a demand slowdown during 2023, I’m expecting overall dealmaking activity to remain healthy in the year ahead.

M&A’s role as a constant market factor in distribution is why we at MDM are hosting our Virtual M&A Summit on Feb. 22 and Feb. 23. From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. ET each day, we have a powerful content lineup designed to provide key insights, perspectives and expertise in the realm of distribution M&A. I sincerely hope you’ll join us.

We’re bringing in distributors who have spearheaded recent deals, investment banks that have consulted distributors during transactions, advisors and other subject matter experts who will share their experience in getting deals done and what they’ve learned along the way. MDM CEO Tom Gale and I will share our observations as well.

This M&A Summit — the only event of its kind in the B2B distribution space — has something for everyone. Maybe your company is considering pursuing its first acquisition or testing the waters. Perhaps you’re considering selling and finding an investment partner. Maybe you’re in the middle of a transaction and could use some tips on systems or culture integration. Our summit will explore it all.

Here’s a look at just some of what our M&A summit lineup includes:

• A keynote from Day1 Ready Founder and Chief Humanity Officer Jennifer Fondrevay, who has led Fortune 500 executive teams through three separate multi-billion-dollar acquisitions and has particular expertise on the people challenges of those transitions.
• A fireside chat with Motion President Randy Breaux, where we’ll touch on the MRO products distribution giant’s ongoing integration of Kaman Distribution — one of the sector’s biggest deals in the past decade. 
• Turtle & Hughes’ Executive Chairman Jayne Millard will join other panelists to discuss the nuances of human capital during the dealmaking process. 
• Executives from BlackHawk Industrial, SBP Holdings and Supply Chain Equity Partners will discuss build-buy-invest platforms. 
• Executives from Raymond James will dive into how distributors can position themselves for investment. 
• We’ll discuss ESOPs, company valuations and the due diligence needed to drive a successful transaction.

That’s just a sampling of what our M&A Summit will explore. We’ll get into the weeds of M&A topics, as well as look at the big picture about the state of distribution M&A and where it’s headed.

No matter where your company falls on the M&A activity spectrum, we think you’ll find great value in this event, coming away with strengthened strategies and sharpened growth plans after absorbing the lessons shared over our two days together. And you won’t even have to leave your (home) office.

Find more event details, a registration link and an extended look at the agenda here.

The sooner you register, the better — early bird pricing for the event ends Dec. 31.

I hope to see you there, and that everyone has a great holiday season.

— Mike Hockett, MDM Executive Editor