Businesswire.com announced on Wednesday that ServiceMaster Global Holdings, Inc. will be splitting off American Home Shield (AHS) in a tax-free transaction to shareholders, creating two separate publicly-traded companies. ServiceMaster board members say the separation of the companies will allow them to each pursue their “distinct, separate opportunities for profitable growth.” There has been a target date of the third quarter of 2018 for completion of the transaction. Businesswire identifies a variety of benefits of the strategic move, including: providing investors with more clear business identities; an enhanced strategic and management focus on long-term growth and profitability; more flexibility and appropriate allocation of capital; and independent access to capital markets. Founded in 1971, American Home Shield is the leading home warranty provider with more than two million customers across the country and $1.02 billion in revenue reported for 2016. They are headquartered out of Memphis, Tenn. and have service centers there and in LaGrange, Ga. and Carroll. American Home Shield was acquired by ServiceMaster in 1989.
