Profit From “The Spin-off Bonus”

Article Excerpt

One of the ways a company can try to unlock its own hidden value is by creating a separate company out of a subsidiary. The parent company can either sell stock in the new company to the public, or spin it off — hand the stock out to its own investors. In the past few years, it has become common to do both. The parent company starts by selling a portion of the new company to the public, to establish a market and a following among investors. That way, by the time of the spin-off, stock in the new company may be liquid enough to be sold relatively easily, or retained with some confidence as a worthwhile investment. In our experience, and in most academic studies of the subject, this helps the parent and the spin-off. Both generally do better than comparable companies for at least several years after the spin-off takes place. We would never invest purely because of a spin-off,…