This study investigates the relationship between mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and entrepreneurial spawning in labour-intensive service sectors. We discuss two sets of theoretical mechanisms. First, M&As may push employees into entrepreneurship by lowering the average barriers of leaving the current employment (i.e. being associated with general deterioration of working conditions). Second, M&A activities may generate new entrepreneurial opportunities, which are first and foremost accessible by employees directly affected by M&As. Results on entrepreneurial spawning in 3,198 Swedish firms during the time period 2000–2009 confirm that the number of firms spawned from a specific incumbent increases following an M&A. Push-oriented factors are found to contribute to this effect, but a dominating part of the total effect remains in the presence of proxies for push-effects. This suggests that pull-oriented explanations of opportunity creation in the wake of M&As constitute an important avenue for further research on the antecedents of new firm formation.