Carve-out

The partial divestiture of a business in which a parent company sells minority interest of a subsidiary to outside investors. A company undertaking a carve-out is not selling a business unit outright but, instead, is selling an equity stake in that business or spinning the business off on its own while retaining an equity stake. In this way, a carve-out allows a company to capitalize on a business segment that may not be part of its core operations.