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Management article
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Reference no. 96101
Published by: Harvard Business Publishing
Published in: "Harvard Business Review", 1996
Length: 10 pages

Abstract

Many companies today find themselves with a surplus of cash and a shortage of places to use it. In the past five years, more than 1,300 companies have stashed upwards of $150 billion into their coffers. Yet when CEOs look for ways to spend that cash, they find few options. This litany, however, precludes one important option--nonsynergistic acquisitions. A new study by McKinsey consultants Patricia L. Anslinger and Thomas E. Copeland has found that companies can pursue nonsynergistic deals profitably. In fact, their yearlong research has uncovered a diverse group of organizations, including Thermo Electron, Sara Lee, and Clayton, Dublier & Rice, that have grown dramatically and captured sustained returns of 18% to 35% per year by making nonsynergistic acquisitions.

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Abstract

Many companies today find themselves with a surplus of cash and a shortage of places to use it. In the past five years, more than 1,300 companies have stashed upwards of $150 billion into their coffers. Yet when CEOs look for ways to spend that cash, they find few options. This litany, however, precludes one important option--nonsynergistic acquisitions. A new study by McKinsey consultants Patricia L. Anslinger and Thomas E. Copeland has found that companies can pursue nonsynergistic deals profitably. In fact, their yearlong research has uncovered a diverse group of organizations, including Thermo Electron, Sara Lee, and Clayton, Dublier & Rice, that have grown dramatically and captured sustained returns of 18% to 35% per year by making nonsynergistic acquisitions.

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