Publications
Publications
- November 2011
- HBS Case Collection
Brink's Company: Activists Push for a Spin-off
By: Suraj Srinivasan, Aldo Sesia and Amy Kaser
Abstract
The case studies the decision of the security services corporation Brink's Company to spin-off its home security division from the rest of the company. The decision followed intense pressure on the company by three activist hedge funds that felt that Brink's was chronically undervalued and the individual businesses were worth more than the combined company. The company resisted the decision for over a year before agreeing to the break up. The case follows the argument made by the company and each of the investors. It also describes the actions by the company to convince its shareholders of the merits of keeping the company together, as well as the actions the activist investors took to get the attention of management, the board, and other investors. The businesses, secure transportation, and home security monitoring are described from both a business strategy and a financial perspective so that the potential value of different value enhancing options can be analyzed.
Keywords
Activist Investors; Spin-off; Leveraged Recapitalization; Debt; Valuation; Hedge Funds; Conglomerates; Investment Activism
Citation
Srinivasan, Suraj, Aldo Sesia, and Amy Kaser. "Brink's Company: Activists Push for a Spin-off." Harvard Business School Case 112-055, November 2011.