disinvestment

In economics, the process of reducing capital stock. This may be by the scrapping or non-replacement of capital goods or by selling shares. The term is more popularly applied to the withdrawal of investments in a country for political reasons, such as South Africa in the apartheid era or, more recently, Iran because of its perceived nuclear armaments ambitions.

Disinvestment may be motivated by fear of loss of business in the home market caused by adverse publicity or by fear of loss of foreign resources if the local government changes.