Emilie R. Feldman - Divestitures: Creating Value Through Strategy, Structure, and Implementation

Through her rigorous and well-researched analysis, Dr. Feldman provides an invaluable guide for any executive looking to address one of the most crucial, yet sensitive, corporate challenges: knowing why, when, and how to divest and reshuffle a firms businesses and resources in pursuit of more value-creating opportunities.

Laurence Capron

Professor of Strategy and The Paul Desmarais Chaired Professor of Partnership and Active Ownership, INSEAD

Emilie Feldman shows us how thoughtful divestitures create wins for management and shareholders. For many leaders, the inherent bias for acquisitions and against divestitures creates blind spots for value creation. The entire breadth of this book, covering divestiture strategies, structures, and implementation approaches, is brought to life by the memorable case studies and anecdotes. Our team now refers to these cases by name, adding vocabulary that expands our frame of options available to the companies we advise. I am eager to introduce Emilies work to my clients. Note: I am less eager to have competing advisers read her work.

Todd Dubner

Principal, Global Strategy Group, KPMG

Emilie Feldman brilliantly shows that pruning underperforming or non-core businesses is essential to corporate success. This most helpful book shows how to strategize, structure, and implement divestitures to lay the foundations for sustainable growth and profitability.

Mauro F. Guilln

Dean, Cambridge Judge Business School

Rarely does one find a business book that tackles an important and relevant topic such as divestiture in a forthright and thoughtful manner. In my view, Professor Emilie Feldmans book is one that deserves attention. While the topic of M&A garners broad coverage and highlights why large numbers of them do not produce desirable results, very little is documented or written about the topic of divestitures. From my experience as a CEO, board leader, and board member of public and private companies across a broad range of industries, divestitures consistently produce desirable outcomes in terms of value creation, portfolio focus, improved capital allocation, and better talent deployment. I strongly encourage CEOs and board members to read this book and add divestitures as an active part of their agenda.

Rajiv L. Gupta

Retired Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Rohm & Haas, Retired Chairman of Avantor Inc. and Aptiv PLC

Providing a comprehensive and readable guide to the corporate strategy of divestitures, Feldman vividly illustrates the upsides of divestiture strategy done right and the pitfalls of divestiture strategy done wrong. A tour de force, the book is unique in focusing on divestiture as a critical tool in the strategists toolbox.

Constance E. Helfat

J. Brian Quinn Professor in Technology and Strategy, Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth

Huntsman shrank volumes 70% and grew EPS by 70% since going public. Selling an asset and taking after-tax proceeds to buy something of greater value is one of the most challenging decisions to execute. A company is usually selling an underperforming asset and hoping to buy something of far greater value. Professor Feldman thoroughly explores one of the most overlooked actions a board will ever undertake. This is a long overdue analysis and guide.

Peter R. Huntsman

Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer of Huntsman Corporation

A very well-written book and an invaluable primer to this very important topic. The authors opening pruning analogy is spot on... and critical for firms to understand. This is an outstanding resource for an ever-faster-moving world.

Martin Schroeter

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Kyndryl Holdings, Inc.

Explaining the drivers of headline-grabbing corporate breakups, split-offs and reconfigurations, Professor Feldman provides an excellent and timely evidence-based explanation of value creation through strategic divestitures. The book provides consistent evidence that strategic divestitures create significantly higher returns than acquisitions, despite CEOs disproportionate focus on the latter. This book presents a well-researched approach to choices between modes of divestiturespinoffs, sales to corporate or private equity buyers, and tracking stocks. Pruning corporate portfolios via divestiture unlocks value for the firm by strengthening its focus on core businesses, improving capital allocation, and developing long-term advantage. The arguments are enriched by detailed narratives illuminating best practices in implementing divestitures. Professor Feldman clearly shows how to unlock substantial value through divestiture as part of corporate scope-changing transactions. A must-read!

Harbir Singh

Mack Professor and Professor of Management, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania

Copyright 2023 by Emilie R. Feldman. All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the United States Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

ISBN: 978-1-26-427757-5
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Feldman, Emilie R., author.

Title: Divestitures : creating value through strategy, structure, and implementation / Emilie R. Feldman.

Description: New York, NY : McGraw Hill, [2023] | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2022028481 (print) | LCCN 2022028482 (ebook) | ISBN 9781264277568 (hardback) | ISBN 9781264277575 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Business planning. | Organizational effectiveness.

Classification: LCC HD30.28 .F426 2023 (print) | LCC HD30.28 (ebook) | DDC 658.4/012--dc23/eng/20221017

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022028481