Andrew Corn of of Clear Indexes (CSD) believes that "Spin-Offs stand to become increasingly prevalent in the near future." Why? Because you can "Give a high growth unit the chance to reap the benefits of a high growth stock, shed a non-core business, or give investors the chance to buy into a specific industry without taking on other divisions."

From an investors standpoint, it is easier for us when we are looking for specific solutions to our portfolio. "An easily understood company in a specific industry (without excess “fat” or suffering from a conglomerate discount) can fairly swiftly unlock shareholder value."

Andrew Corn believes that this is the right time for UBS to do a spin-off as ativitst shareholders are calling for a break up of the private and investment banking units. IAC/InterActiveCorp. (IACI) plans to disassemble into five separate companies. We just saw the Phillip Morris International (PM) a spin-off of the Altria Group (MO), which began trading on the NYSE last week.

Sometimes the sum of the parts are greater than the whole, and by breaking up the company you unlock a lot of shareholder value. You get rid of the excess weight by the older/underperforming divisions.