Mergers & Acquisitions

NAW’s 3Q26 M&A Report is Here

It covers our updated monthly deal counts; a year-to-date breakdown of M&A by product category; the latest EBITDA trading multiples for 27 public industrial distributors; our latest M&A-led Premium articles; and our detailed recap of dealmaking activity during July-September.

October 23, 2026

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In the latest offering out of NAW Research (rebranded from MDM), our 3Q26 M&A Report is now published — available to download and purchase. Here’s its Premium/Professional link, and here’s its NAW Store link.

3Q26 M&A Report

Our 3Q26 M&A Report provides a quantitative and qualitative examination of distributor mergers and acquisition activity during the July-September period.

Its contents include:

  • Our updated counts for monthly distributor M&A transactions going back 24 months
  • Our tracking of year-to-date distributor transactions by product category so that you can see the M&A activity levels by market vertical
  • Courtesy of investment bank Houlihan Lokey, the financial metrics on U.S. deal volume, trading multiples and the state of 27 publicly traded industrial distributors
  • Our latest M&A focused MDM Premium articles, which take aim at Rexel’s North American expansion and what buyers want in a more selective distribution M&A market

Overall, the report provides a valuable snapshot of wholesale distribution’s dealmaking activity during the past quarter with a broad industry lense alongside market-specific data, alongside key financial metrics and our latest thought leadership insights.

NAW Professional (formerly MDM Premium) members get complimentary access to this and nearly all NAW Research reports from their MDM Premium dashboard. And remember, members of the National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors receive complimentary Professional access upon activation here.

Meanwhile, non-Professional readers can still purchase this and all our other reports from the NAW Store.

Other recent MDM & NAW Research Reports:

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