Enhancing Enterprise Value by Strategic M&A/ Divestitures

Divestment generally is a process opposed to investment, and implies the selling of an asset and, more frequently, corporate shares or whole corporations. Although a broad range of studies has discussed and empirically investigated the shareholder value effects of strategic divestments, three research gaps remain: (1)no reliable and coherent methodology has been developed to measure long-term market value creation of divestments. Virtually all previous studies exploring stock market reactions based on market data are limited to performance effects in the short, or very short, timespan from the divestment announcement.(2)Virtually no study is available that compares short-term to long-term divestment effects. The reason is the incompatibility of short and long-term research. While short-term studies rely on the CAR model, long-term studies mostly apply management surveys.(3)The success factors of strategic divestments so far have not been explored comprehensively. Previous studies explore only a few factors each. However, comparing the evaluations, a broad range of potential influence factors exist, and their mutual cross-relationships have not yet been systematically explored.