Divestitures and Divisional Investment Policies

46 Pages Posted: 11 Mar 2003

See all articles by Amy K. Dittmar

Amy K. Dittmar

University of Michigan at Ann Arbor - The Stephen M. Ross School of Business

Anil Shivdasani

University of North Carolina Kenan-Flagler Business School

Multiple version iconThere are 2 versions of this paper

Date Written: December 16, 2002

Abstract

We study a sample of diversified firms that alter their organizational structure by divesting a business segment. These firms experience a reduction in the diversification discount after the divestiture. We show that the efficiency of segment investment increases substantially following the divestiture and that this improvement is associated with a decrease in the diversification discount. Our results support the corporate focus and financing hypotheses for corporate divestitures. We demonstrate that inefficient investment is partly responsible for the diversification discount and show that asset sales lead to an improvement in the efficiency of investment for remaining divisions.

Keywords: divestitures, diversification, asset sales, internal capital markets

JEL Classification: G31, G33, G34

Suggested Citation

Dittmar, Amy and Shivdasani, Anil, Divestitures and Divisional Investment Policies (December 16, 2002). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=363060 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.363060

Amy Dittmar (Contact Author)

University of Michigan at Ann Arbor - The Stephen M. Ross School of Business ( email )

701 Tappan Street
Ann Arbor, MI MI 48109
United States
734-764-3108 (Phone)

HOME PAGE: http://webuser.bus.umich.edu/adittmar/

Anil Shivdasani

University of North Carolina Kenan-Flagler Business School ( email )

Kenan-Flagler Business School
Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3490
United States
919-962-3182 (Phone)
919-962-2068 (Fax)

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
446
Abstract Views
3,085
Rank
119,133
PlumX Metrics