Liquidity Breakthrough Amid Budget Freezes: How CFOs Can Revitalize 'Residual Assets'
U.S. companies are broadly postponing hiring and investment due to tariffs, inflation, and uncertainty, leaving CFOs caught between cutting costs and stalling growth. This article points out that many companies have 'residual assets' lying dormant on their books—equity related to inactive subsidiaries, predecessor entities, or historical acquisitions—with a global market size exceeding $100 billion, and 7 out of 10 mid-to-large enterprises have at least $1 million in monetization opportunities. Oak Point Partners, as a pioneering buyer in this field, has served over 2,000 companies including Fortune 500 firms, and its technology can identify and acquire these assets with low burden and zero disruption, offering CFOs a liquidity solution that does not sacrifice growth.
American companies are collectively contracting. Tariffs, inflation, and economic uncertainty have put many CFOs on the defensive. A recent survey by the National Association for Business Economics (NABE) found that 27% of companies expect to delay hiring or investment over the next six months.
For CFOs seeking to preserve cash, hiring freezes, spending pauses, and project shelving are often the levers of choice. But excessive caution is also costly: innovation stalls, momentum is lost, and employees begin to question the company's direction. The real question is not how much to cut, but how to unlock liquidity without sacrificing growth—and the answer often lies in plain sight.
The Risks of Delayed Spending
Freezing spending may seem prudent, but it can be dangerous. The competitive landscape has never been more intense: rivals are doubling down on innovation, customers expect continuous improvement, and stakeholders demand agility. A six-month pause might look like fiscal discipline, but does it really save money? Or does it come at a higher long-term cost? Losing market share while competitors race ahead, watching top talent leave for companies that are still hiring, and missing strategic opportunities—these headwinds will delay recovery when the economy turns.
CFOs face not just tough trade-offs, but the risk of being left behind by the times.
A New Category of Liquidity: Residual Assets
What many companies overlook is that untapped cash is already dormant within their own walls. "Residual assets"—equity related to inactive subsidiaries, legacy entities, or historical acquisitions—are an overlooked category of liquidity, with a global market exceeding $100 billion. In fact, 7 out of 10 mid-to-large companies sit on at least $1 million in monetization opportunities. For CFOs, this is nothing less than a gold mine waiting to be mined.
Oak Point Partners pioneered the business of monetizing residual assets and remains the world's leading institutional buyer of residual assets. Over the past two decades, Oak Point has completed more than 2,000 transactions with Fortune 500, private equity-backed, and other leading private companies, including CDW, Sysco Food Service, and LifePoint Health. In the last year alone, we acquired residual assets from companies with combined revenues exceeding $120 billion.
Our proprietary technology and expertise allow us to directly identify, evaluate, and purchase these assets. The result: a low-burden, high-yield liquidity strategy that requires minimal time and zero disruption to daily operations.
A Smarter Alternative
When margins tighten, CFOs often cycle through the same limited playbook:
- Cutting costs: fast but corrosive
- Pausing investments: safer, but stifles growth
- Taking on debt: provides liquidity, but adds risk
Residual assets open a fourth path: low effort, high return, no added risk. Proceeds from these transactions can be redirected to key priorities such as hiring, growth initiatives, R&D pipelines, or used to protect roles that might otherwise be cut.
A case in point: a multi-billion-dollar healthcare company monetized assets tied to historical acquisitions, unlocking millions in liquidity with minimal team involvement.
"Residual asset recovery can pose complex challenges for healthcare companies. When Magellan Healthcare sold its residual assets to Oak Point, we gained the peace of mind we needed—that its recovery efforts would not impact the relationships and processes critical to our business success." —Jeffrey Vines, former Vice President of Business Transformation at Magellan Healthcare
Why CFOs Should Act Now
When nearly a third of companies are treading water, the advantage belongs to those who refuse to freeze. By monetizing residual assets, CFOs can protect the bottom line, drive growth, and turn financial prudence into a competitive edge—even when budgets are locked down.
About Eric Linn
Eric Linn is the Chief Executive Officer of Oak Point Partners, a position he has held since founding the company in 2001. Since then, Oak Point has successfully completed residual asset transactions with more than 2,000 companies.
Beyond Oak Point, Eric is an active investor and minority shareholder in Crystal Palace Football Club and Real Salt Lake, and serves as Chairman of the Wharton School Undergraduate Executive Board. Earlier in his career, Eric co-founded an enterprise software company and worked at TA Associates and Salomon Brothers. He graduated with distinction from the Wharton School in 1992.