The literature has documented a positive effect of foreign acquisitions on firm performance. But is this effect due to a one-time knowledge transfer or does it rely on continuous injections of knowledge? To shed light on this question we use plant-level data from the Indonesian Census of Manufacturing covering the period 1991-2009. We focus on 242 cases of foreign affiliates being sold to Indonesian owners which we observe two years before and five years after disinvestment. To establish a causal effect of the ownership change we combine propensity score matching with a difference-in-differences approach. The results indicate that disinvestment is associated with a drop in output driven by a decline in export volume or even exit from export markets. The drop in output lasts about three years and is accompanied by lower reliance on imported inputs. In later years, increased local sales offset lower exports. This pattern is consistent with sold affiliates being cut off from the production and distribution network of their former parent company. Sold affiliates experience a temporary dip in productivity which suggestive of a one-time knowledge transfer being responsible for the superior performance of foreign affiliates. Employment does not appear to be affected by disinvestment.