Sara Lee is the latest company to break itself into two or more separate companies.

The split announcement comes in the same month that Motorola divided into two separate companies.

As companies continue with global restructuring, spin-offs are increasingly being used to slim down and focus on central businesses, bring in some capital, and help the individual businesses to build market value separately. Whether through an IPO, an MBO, an LBO or simply by issuing shares to current shareholders, US and global companies are shedding assets left and right.

Lockheed Martin is restructuring to change its focus on long-term growth, and the company is putting some less-strategic units up for sale as part of the process. Most of its Enterprise Integration Group and its Pacific Architects and Engineers unit--both now falling under its Information Systems & Global Services business—will be spun off. In addition, as the firm tightens its focus within the defence sector, the divestitures are also part of a move to comply with recently-drafted Pentagon conflict of interest rules for contractors, according to the company.

PNC Financial on Tuesday announced that it reached an agreement with its banking regulators and the Treasury Department permitting it to redeem the $7.6 billion of preferred shares it sold under the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

As part of the plan, as most banks repaying TARP funds have done, PNC announced it will sell common stock. In its case, PNC will offer $3 billion worth of shares.

But unlike other banks, PNC concurrently announced the sale of a division, its investment-servicing unit, to BNY Mellon for $2.3 billion, the proceeds of which will go toward the TARP payment.