If a big, established company owns a biz that gets real hot, say like the ATT, Lucent thing, when they sell a stake in the subsidiary, do they have to or usually give their shareholders some sort of deal, like shares in new co. or opportunity to buy first, or whatever?
I'm looking at Toronto-Dominion Bank of Canada which owns Waterhouse Securities and has a P/E of about 16. They have a committee looking into selling a less than 20% stake in Waterhouse, just to establish market value.
I just want to know the mechanisms for such a situation. I won't consider it an endorsement.
smooches-p.