When and How to Divest: A Guide to Strategic Spin-Offs and Carve-Outs

The strategic playbook of most companies focuses on growth through mergers and acquisitions. But that focus on M&A deals overlooks one of the most powerful tools in their arsenal: a clear, proactive divestiture strategy. The strategic shedding of underperforming assets can be a robust engine for value creation and an essential component of dynamic portfolio management for boards, C-suite executives, and private equity funds.

“While there’s plenty of evidence to suggest divestitures can create more value for shareholders than acquisitions, only about 30% of S&P 500 firms engage in them annually,” says Emilie Feldman, professor of management at Wharton and author of Divestitures: Creating Value Through Strategy, Structure, and Implementation.

This underutilization, she posits, is partly due to a psychological bias: “M&A is associated with positive terms like ‘growth’ and ‘opportunity,’ while divestitures are linked to negative terms like ‘failing’ and ‘lagging.'”

Overcoming this misperception is critical to unlocking substantial enterprise value.

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✅ What Does a Fractional CFO Actually Do? Key Responsibilities Explained

Hiring a fractional CFO is one of the smartest moves a growing company can make — especially when full-time overhead doesn’t yet make sense.

But what exactly does a fractional CFO do?

Whether you’re a founder, CEO, or investors, board member exploring financial leadership options, here’s a closer look at how part-time CFOs drive financial clarity, control, and strategy across all kinds of companies.

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M&A IT: The Overlooked Key to Deal Success

PwC’s 2023 M&A Integration Survey found that just 14 percent of respondents reported achieving “significant success” in a merger or acquisition. The “secret sauce” to their M&A success? A whopping 88 percent point to the importance of IT integration.

Despite that, the fast-paced world of mergers and acquisitions often means that information technology concerns take a backseat to strategic business objectives during due diligence.

This oversight can be a costly mistake.

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Don’t Let Your Acquisition Become Another Statistic: Ace the Integration with a Playbook

It’s widely reported that half or more mergers and acquisitions ultimately fail. But it doesn’t have to be that way. To look at why so many deals fail during the integration process and learn how to ratchet up the chances of success, we talked with three interim executives with a track record of dozens of successful mergers and acquisitions.

You can watch the video to hear everything they had to say, click over to read our edited transcript, or read on for a summary of the highlights.

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