Structuring Divestitures

Emilie Feldman Professor of Management Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania

Drawing on the most respected text on corporate divestitures, this M&A Master Class provides a comprehensive assessment of a range of structures and their strategic basis. Recent president transactions are layered throughout with practical insights on designing and executing an effective process.

  • Formulate a strategic and financial framework for divestitures
  • Improve your ability to assess various divestiture structures
  • Head-off missteps in the design and management of a divestiture transaction

$1,500 | $0 for Members Learn About Membership Accounts

Friday, June 13, 2025 | 10:00 - 3:30 (CST)

Live Online

Strategic considerations

  • Examining the factors that lead companies to engage in divestitures
  • Conducting portfolio reviews and modeling corporate reconfigurations
  • Creating a framework for deciding whether and when to divest
  • Working with the Board on reasoned divestiture decisions
  • Navigating bias for acquisitions and against divestitures
  • Preparing to remove businesses through a divestiture
  • Divesting to comply with regulatory requirements

Divestiture structures

  • Sales to a strategic or financial acquirer and related tax considerations
  • Spinoffs to existing shareholders through a publicly traded spinoff company
  • Equity carve-outs through a publicly traded spinoff company
  • Using a Reverse Morris Trusts to execute a tax free spinoff
  • Divesting into a joint ventures
  • Creating a tracking stock

Divestiture execution & governance

  • Estimating the divestiture workload and determining the required steps
  • Managing external advisors, the internal team, and shareholder expectations
  • Methods for valuing the business or asset that are being divested
  • Identifying impediments to divestitures including financial constraints
  • Responsibilities for corporate directors and methods for heading off conflicts 
  • Adjusting executive compensation for the new organizational structure
  • Measuring financial or strategic returns after completing a divestiture

The Institute is an accredited provider of CLE in Illinois. This M&A Master Class offers 4.75 CLE credits. An Illinois certificate will be issued. If you are licensed in another state, please check for reciprocity regarding continuing education credits.

Emilie R. Feldman Professor of Management at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania

Professor Feldman teaches courses on mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, corporate strategy, and corporate governance. Her expertise is in corporate strategy and governance, with particular interests in the role that divestitures, spinoffs, and mergers and acquisitions play in corporate reconfiguration.

Professor Feldman is the author of “Divestitures: Creating Value Through Strategy, Structure, and Implementation”.

She has been teaching for the Institute since 2022.

“This M&A Master Class helped me learn and confirmed many things that need to be addressed when structuring divestitures."

Corporate M&A Integration & Divestiture Director

Caterpillar

General Manager

Samuel, Son & Co.

"What truly set this course apart was its practicality. Professor Feldman presented real-world case studies and shared her research, giving us valuable insights into the strategies employed by successful companies in divestiture situations. The course emphasized the importance of divestitures as a strategic tool for reshaping a company's portfolio, optimizing resources, and unlocking value for shareholders".

Vice President, Head Counsel, U.S. Corporate and Commercial Contracting

Takeda Pharmaceuticals

"This was a terrific M&A Master Class. I really enjoyed the real life divestiture discussions and lessons learned.”

M&A Manager, North America

Alfa Laval


"The Structuring Divestitures M&A Master Class was a great course for understanding the various options for divesting and generating value for your organization through divestments".

Director, Mergers & Acquisitions

Microsoft

“Emilie Feldman was an amazing facilitator. She did great job of breaking down a lot of complex information in a way that made it easy to understand. In addition, I appreciated how she consistently included examples to make the information more real.”

EUV Global Marketing Manager

DuPont

"The best aspect of this M&A Master Class was the practical, hands-on approach to learning, which included real-world case studies, interactive simulations, and expert insights from seasoned professionals in the industry. This comprehensive and engaging format provided a deep understanding of the M&A process, making the theoretical concepts highly applicable to real-life scenarios."

Principle Project Manager

Church & Dwight

"Professor Feldman was well versed and came to the class with not only academic points of view, but also industry examples. She answered questions completely and tried to get participation from the attendees to supplement industry experience."