The old hand walks over, listens for 10 seconds, touches the part, and tells the operator to back off the feed by a hair. The chatter disappears. Nobody writes anything down. By lunch, the shop is running again, and the
Read the full article2026 M&A OUTLOOK
Our annual sector reports on where specialty chemicals, niche manufacturing, and industrial services are headed, and where we’re deploying capital.
01
SPECIALTY CHEMICALS
Formulation IP, customer concentration, and the real comps behind a market that’s consolidating faster than most owners expect. An operator’s read on the year ahead.
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02
NICHE MANUFACTURING
Labor scarcity, aging ownership, and the machine that’s reshaping mid-market deal flow. Why 2026 is shaping up as a buyer’s market for disciplined capital.
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03
INDUSTRIAL SERVICES
Route density, recurring contracts, and technician retention now drive valuations more than revenue mix. Where the bid-ask gap is closing and why.
Read the full reportRECENT ANALYSIS
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What We Look for in a Chemical Company's Data Room On a Sunday evening, a founder is on the phone with counsel and a banker, trying to remem
Same EBITDA, 3x the Enterprise Value: Why the Type of Service Matters Two founders each tell you their company makes about $3M of EBITDA. On
Two specialty chemical companies can say the same thing in a management meeting: we make it here. One statement lands flat. The other change
Most industrial services teasers still begin the same way: a service map, a list of branches, and a truck count. Then the deal language shif
FROM THE MANAGING PARTNERS
HarborWind Partners acquires mid-market businesses in specialty chemicals, niche manufacturing, and industrial services. We invest in companies where technology and operator judgment compound, and we use the same tools to run our own research.
An AI system we built surfaces the market signals, deal patterns, and operational trends that matter to the founders, intermediaries, and operators we work with. It pulls primary sources, drafts the analysis, and ties each piece back to the businesses we actually own and operate.
Everything we find gets published here. If any of it is useful, we hope you’ll subscribe and stay in touch with the firm.
Sean Mahoney & Rocky Lopez
Managing Partners, HarborWind Partners