Rekord mange spin offs i kølvandet på aktionærkrav om at synliggøre værdier

I NYSE Corporate Board Magazine hedder det i en artikel om virksomheders stigende spin off aktiviteter, at ”pressure from activist investors to “unlock shareholder value” via a breakup is perhaps the biggest driver behind this spike. About one-quarter of recent spinoffs have been overtly engineered by activists, including ones at Internet auction house eBay, media giant Gannett, bearings and steelmaker Timken Co., and auto parts supplier Federal-Mogul. As many as half of those that appear to be initiated by boards may actually be the result of behind-the-scenes negotiations with an activist hedge fund, observers say. “The more assets that are held by activists, the more of this we’re going to see,” says Gregg Feinstein, a managing director and head of the M&A group for Houlihan Lokey, an investment bank that represents both activists and their targets. “They have to deploy their capital, and spinoffs often can generate shareholder value.”