A corporate transaction where a parent company sells a portion of its subsidiary to the public through an IPO while retaining majority control. Unlike a spin-off, the parent company receives cash proceeds from the sale.
Compound from 'carve' (Old English ceorfan, meaning to cut or slice) and 'out' (Old English ut). The metaphor of carving suggests precisely cutting out a piece while leaving the main structure intact, adopted in finance in the 1980s.
Carve-outs are like selling a room in your house while keeping the keys - the parent company gets immediate cash but maintains control and can benefit from future appreciation of the carved-out entity!
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