| Headline: Dutch corporate finance - Dividing while still maintaining full control Source: Euromoney magazine Date: January 2000 Author: Steven Wilson and Leo van de Voort New forms of corporate restructuring are appearing in Dutch business. Leading pensions funds are agitating for shareholder value and companies are responding by listing subsidiaries. But some Dutch companies want to retain control of non-core divisions and exposure to their growth prospects, while at the same time benefiting from favourable stock market ratings for these businesses. So they are listing minority stakes in large divisions through so-called equity carve-outs, rather than pursuing full-blown spin-offs: a poor compromise or smart corporate finance? Steven Wilson and Leo van de Voort report. Some three year ago, the ground-breaking deal in Holland was the splitting up of conglomerate Vendex through spin-offs of two major divisions. It spun off its recruitment division, Vendior, and two years ago also spun off its retail interests in a new company called Laurus. Vendex itself was left as a focused department-store business. In the course of privatization IPOs, the old Dutch state PTT was also restructured into separate post and telecoms companies. |