15/01/2020 - Divestment by multinational enterprises is an important yet understudied phenomenon. The few available estimates indicate that about a fifth of all foreign affiliates are divested every five years. This working paper presents the findings from a novel cross-country firm-level dataset with financial and ownership information for over 62 000 foreign-owned affiliates from a selection of 41 OECD and G20 countries and their economic groups from 164 home countries for the period 2007-2014.

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Parting ways in the global marketplace

Corporate divestments happen more often than you think. News of investment by a foreign multinational is usually celebrated but corporate divestments – just as break-ups – are less frequently advertised. Yet, divestment is a frequent global phenomenon.

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