The Future of HPG and Evans Following the Big Acquisition

Top 40 supplier HPG this month acquired fellow Top 40 firm Evans Manufacturing. What can distributors expect in terms of service? How does the deal benefit the firms and their customers? Plus, where is M&A in promo headed?

Promo Insiders 1/20/2023

In early January, Top 40 supplier HPG (asi/61966) closed on one of the biggest acquisitions the promo products industry has ever seen, buying fellow Top 40 firm Evans Manufacturing (asi/52840).

The move drew heavy attention throughout the North American promotional products industry. It also sparked no shortage of questions: What can distributors expect from the companies in terms of product and service going forward? Why is the deal a good move for the suppliers – and their distributor customers? What does this mean for the growing mergers and acquisition movement within the promo products space more broadly?

In this Promo Insiders podcast hosted by ASI Media’s Christopher Ruvo, HPG CEO Chris Anderson and Vice President of Marketing Ben Pawsey deep-dive into those questions and more. Several of the big takeaways are encouraging, including that the executives believe HPG and Evans have natural synergies that will result in greater solutions for distributors.

Podcast Chapters
0:48 How does the deal make HPG better and benefit distributors?
4:19 How does the acquisition benefit Evans and distributors?
6:20 When acquisitions occur, some worry that there’ll be service drop-offs and increased friction. What is HPG/Evans doing to facilitate as seamless a transition as possible?
10:30 Does HPG plan to stay aggressive on acquisitions?
12:45: Will M&A continue to grow in promo? Will there be more deals involving the industry’s largest companies?
17:14 Private equity’s influence on acquisitions in promo – now and going forward.