ASSET STRIPPER

An individual or company, which purchases a corporation with the intention of dividing that corporation up into its parts and selling these parts for profit. An asset stripper will determine if the value of a company is worth more as a whole or as separate assets. Usually the asset stripper sells some assets off immediately then sells the functioning portion of the business later.

This is a corporate purchaser who discovers companies, which will create more profit by liquidating the parts rather than through business operations. For example an asset stripper could purchase a battery company for $100 million, strip and sell the R&D division for $30 million, then sell the remaining company for $85 million, for a profit of $15 million. The asset stripper could also just sell a portion of the business to fulfill debt obtained from acquiring the company.