A familiar name to readers of this site was leading the pack of top gainers for a bit last Thursday and the reason was a bit surprising. Exelis (XLS), a defense contractor freshly spun out of ITT (ITT), announced that it would pursue a spinoff of its own by separating its military and government services business into a standalone unit.… Read More »
One of my favorite and often overlooked parts of examining spinoffs is the choice of name for the new entity. Generally, this decision requires zero thought as there is a division or some well known product making the choice obvious, such as in the case of Madison Square Garden or Babcock & Wilcox (well…maybe that one isn’t the best example). However, occasionally management needs to flex its creative muscles (by which I mean hire some… Read More »
While some companies are new to spinning off divisions, others are known for their serial spinoffs. Few however, can match the fecundity of ITT(ITT)(nee International Telephone & Telegraph). ITT was born out of the Puerto Rico Telephone Company in 1920. Over the next half century, ITT was the classic conglomerate, buying such diverse companies as The Hartford Insurance,… Read More »