Europe set for more spin-offs as activism, re-rating hopes spur deals

European spin-off activity is set to continue briskly next year as businesses such as automotive suppliers strive to re-rate in the face of industrial disruption and pre-empt activism incursions, market practitioners say.

A range of demergers occurred in 2018 across a variety of sectors in Europe, including asset management firm Quilter’s [LON:QLT] separation from Old Mutual [LON:OMU], automotive safety group Autoliv’s [STO:ALIV-SDB] spin-off of Veoneer [NYSE:VNE] and Kering’s [EPA:KER] distribution to shareholders of sportswear maker Puma [ETR:PUM].

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by Sofia Cerqueira and Gustav Sandstrom in London, with analytics by Olga Stahl, CFA and Rahul Warrier