Divestment

Divestment or divestiture is the opposite of the investment. Divestment means the release of capital in the company through the sale of assets, so the release of investing in property, or financials amounts of money in liquid form in business administration.

The divestment is due to the capital release a form of internal financing dar. It is a replacement of previously invested funds, which are then again available for investment.

Possible reasons for divestitures

• Sale of assets that are not part of the core business.

• Sale of assets or investments to fund-raising.

• Sale of individual parts of the company to achieve than would be possible, for example, as part of a total liquidation or a total sale to a higher return.

• Sale of risky parts of companies or investments.

• Sale of unprofitable parts of the business or financial investments.

• Through regulators forced sale of individual parts of the company.

• Selling pressure from investors or other social reasons (see also divestment campaigns).

Divestment campaigns

The sale was for the first time in the 1980s as part of political campaigns (English " Divestment Campaign " ) applied, particularly in the United States of America. So then an economic boycott against the South African apartheid regime was organized in the public investors such as municipalities, churches or colleges all funds were encouraged to withdraw from South African plants. Since then, there have been several divestment campaigns against governments and companies.

Among them were in the U.S. in particular:

• Companies benefited from the occupation palestine safe areas by the State of Israel.

• Tobacco industry

• Defense Industry

• Members of the Global Climate Coalition a lobby association of going against the agreed under the Kyoto Protocol climate protection measures - including Ford, General Motors, Texaco, Southern Company, Exxon Mobile and others. The divestment campaign was organized by the NGO Ozone Action in 2000.

Since the year 2013 there is one, organized by the Environmental Protection Agency 350.org global divestment campaign against oil, coal and natural gas industries, which also took in the U.S. began. Meanwhile, demand subsidiary organizations in several countries an immediate divestment of all public funds from the so-called carbon bubble. Should it happen that a large part of the global deposits should not be exploited for fossil energies to the 2 ° target to achieve even by political decisions, would make investments in this "overnight" worthless. In Germany there are campaigns in several cities, and against the state-owned KfW.

However, many of divestment campaigns reach their target by not directly inflict economic damage to the undertakings concerned act but rather as a means of social decision-making.