Mergers and Acquisition Law


Mergers and Acquisition Law


Mergers and Acquisition Law deals with legislation that regulates the joining of two separate companies for which the ultimate objective is the creation of a bigger business entity. A merger is a process by which two companies join and one new company continues to exist. Acquisitions involve a process by which one company acquires the assets of another company. The Federal Trade Commission ensures that these transactions are compliant with fair competition and antitrust laws. Mergers can be vertical, horizontal, congeneric and conglomerate; whereas there exists two basic types of acquisitions: hostile and friendly.

Mergers and Acquisition Law - US

  • ABA - Committee on Mergers and Acquisitions

    The Committee on Mergers and Acquisitions (formerly the Committee on Negotiated Acquisitions) is part of the American Bar Association Section of Business Law. Founded in the late 1980s, the Committee has over 3,500 members, including practitioners from 49 states, five Canadian provinces and more than 39 different countries on five continents. The Committee's primary focus is mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and related transactions. The Committee's work addresses not only the legal substance of M&A transactions, but also the process of negotiating and documenting them.

  • Astute Diligence - Mergers and Acquisitions Due Diligence Checklist

    Due diligence checklists provide a starting point for the due diligence effort. This document gathering effort is augmented with many other techniques, including management capability assessments, benchmarking of operational performance, interviewing customers and suppliers, and analysis of business models and projections.

  • DOJ - Merger Enforcement Guidelines

    These Guidelines outline the present enforcement policy of the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission (the "Agency") concerning horizontal acquisitions and mergers ("mergers") subject to section 7 of the Clayton Act,(1) to section 1 of the Sherman Act,(2) or to section 5 of the FTC Act.(3) They describe the analytical framework and specific standards normally used by the Agency in analyzing mergers.(4) By stating its policy as simply and clearly as possible, the Agency hopes to reduce the uncertainty associated with enforcement of the antitrust laws in this area.

  • FTC - Bureau of Competition - Mergers and Acquisitions

    The Bureau of Competition is committed to preventing mergers and acquisitions that are likely to reduce competition and lead to higher prices, lower quality goods or services, or less innovation. In most cases, the Bureau receives notice of proposed mergers under the Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Amendments to the Clayton Act. Bureau lawyers, along with economists from the FTC's Bureau of Economics, investigate market dynamics to determine if the proposed merger will harm consumers.

  • Hart-Scott-Rodino Act - Amendments to the Clayton Act

    The Hart-Scott-Rodino Act established the federal premerger notification program, which provides the FTC and the Department of Justice with information about large mergers and acquisitions before they occur. The parties to certain proposed transactions must submit premerger notification to the FTC and DOJ. Premerger notification involves completing an HSR Form, also called a “Notification and Report Form for Certain Mergers and Acquisitions,” with information about each company’s business. T

  • Maps of the World - Finance - Types of Mergers And Acquisitions

    The terms mergers and acquisitions may often be confused and look similar. However, the two have different meanings. Mergers may be of various types and so can acquisitions be. There are few terms like "spin out", "demerger" and "spin off", which are used to denote the process by which a company separates into two different companies. The nascent company is usually a listed company on the stock exchange. The term "Mergers And Acquisitions" is an expression of a strategy pertaining to the corporate sector.

  • Mergers and Acquisition - Definition

    The phrase mergers and acquisitions (abbreviated M&A) refers to the aspect of corporate strategy, corporate finance and management dealing with the buying, selling and combining of different companies that can aid, finance, or help a growing company in a given industry grow rapidly without having to create another business entity.

  • Mergers and Acquisition - Overview

    A merger or acquisition is a combination of two companies where one corporation is completely absorbed by another corporation. The less important company loses its identity and becomes part of the more important corporation, which retains its identity. A merger extinguishes the merged corporation, and the surviving corporation assumes all the rights, privileges, and liabilities of the merged corporation. A merger is not the same as a consolidation, in which two corporations lose their separate identities and unite to form a completely new corporation.

  • QFinance - Mergers and Aquisitions Regulations - A Global Overview

    Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) has become a mundane expression, used daily in the media. In order to operate successfully in a global economy, corporations have become transnational and have to perform at a multinational level. To achieve such expansion, corporations acquire other companies or merge with them. These large corporations are publicly owned, listed on stock exchanges or alternative markets around the world, and engage in M&A activities that are thoroughly regulated by governments to protect the shareholders of target companies.

Organizations Related to Mergers and Acquisition Law

  • IBA - Corporate and Mergers and Acquisitions Law Committee

    The committee is responsible for reviewing developments relating to corporate governance, privatisations, joint ventures, as well as the whole range of issues affecting all forms of business organisations from multinationals to listed corporations to private family companies, to partnerships and business trusts. The committee is also following developments for new forms of business organisations such as SAS, LLC and LLP. The committee provides in-depth information and exchange of views on these developments and contributes actively to their implementation through publications and conferences.

  • International Mergers and Acquisitions Benchmarking Association

    Our mission: To identify "Best in Class" mergers and acquisitions processes, which, when implemented, will lead member companies to exceptional performance.

  • Mergers and Acquisitions - The Middle Market

    Mergers & Acquisitions is the premier source for breaking M&A news and analysis. Mergers & Acquisitions is the premier source for breaking M&A news and analysis. TheMiddleMarket.com, Mergers & Acquisitions' online home, delivers complete daily coverage of pending and ongoing deals as well as insights into industry trends, strategies and the firms and players involved. Plus, the People Database offers key information on the movers and shakers in finance, including work history and contact info, giving you easy access to the players you need to know.' online home, delivers complete daily coverage of pending and ongoing deals as well as insights into industry trends, strategies and the firms and players involved. Plus, the People Database offers key information on the movers and shakers in finance, including work history and contact info, giving you easy access to the players you need to know.

Publications Related to Mergers and Acquisition Law

  • BNet - Developments in United States Mergers and Acquisitions Law

    This paper briefly reviews the current state of the mergers and acquisitions market in the United States, two recent Delaware court decisions of interest in the area of contests for corporate control, a recent decision by the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit addressing disclaimers in acquisition agreements, and two developments in the tax area that should be of interest to lawyers handling acquisition transactions in the United States, and also offers a comment on the impact of the Sarbanes- Oxley Act of 2002 on mergers and acquisitions transactions.

  • Global Finance - Merger and Acquisition News

    Global Finance is a monthly magazine founded in 1987 by publishing entrepreneurs Joseph Giarraputo and Carl Burgen. Giarraputo continues as Publisher and Editorial Director. Its mission is to help corporate leaders, bankers and investors chart the course of global business and finance.

  • Investopedia - Mergers and Acquisitions

    Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and corporate restructuring are a big part of the corporate finance world. Every day, Wall Street investment bankers arrange M&A transactions, which bring separate companies together to form larger ones. When they're not creating big companies from smaller ones, corporate finance deals do the reverse and break up companies through spinoffs, carve-outs or tracking stocks.

Articles on HG.org Related to Mergers and Acquisition Law

  • Interim Regulations on Capital Contribution by Equities in Foreign Invested Enterprises
    Minister of Commerce (“MOFCOM”) released the Interim Regulations on Capital Contribution by Equities in Foreign Invested Enterprises (“FIE”) (hereinafter the “Interim”) on September 21, 2012, which came into effect on October 22, 2012.
  • Merger of Limited Liability Company - Indonesia
    Under Article 1 number 9 of Law Number 40 of 2007 on Limited Liability Company (“Company Law”) merger means a legal action which is taken by one or more companies to merge with another existing company with the result that the assets and the liabilities of the merging company is transferred by the law to the surviving company and thereafter the merging companies’ status as legal entities is terminated by the law.
  • Private Limited Liability in Italy
    The Italian Civil Code (“ICC”) recognizes three types of limited liability companies: • Società a responsabilità limitata (a private limited company); • Società per Azioni (a joint-stock company); • Società in Accomandita per Azioni (an hybrid form, rarely used in practice, that involves two categories of shareholders, some with and some without limited liability). The S.r.l. is the most commonly used corporate form in Italy.
  • Approval of M&A Transactions by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce - 2012 Annual Review
    This article reviews the activities of the Chinese Ministry of Commerce and the Anti-Monopoly Bureau, in reviewing applications for approval for M&A transactions under the PRC Anti-Monopoly Law, over the last 12 months.
  • Business Mergers
    In this article I discuss business mergers, from a legal perspective. Without further adieu:
  • Merging Medical Practices
    In this article, the author discusses the merger of medical practices, from a legal perspective.
  • Stock Sales vs. Asset Sales: Some Basic Considerations for Selling a Privately-Held Business
    When negotiating the sale and purchase of a privately-held business, a critical consideration for the parties is whether to structure the transaction as a “stock” or asset sale. For purposes of this article, a “stock” sale means the purchase and sale of the owner’s equity interest in the business. An asset sale, on the other hand, is the sale of all or most of the individual assets held by the business.
  • Singapore Business Law - Letters of Intent and What They Achieve
    Business owners generally assume that a Letter of Intent made precursory to a contract would be legally binding and entitle you to legal remedies if the other party reneges on the deal. This article explains why this is often not the case. Hey What Happened? Didn’t We Sign the Memorandum of Understanding?
  • California Labor Law: Checklist for Determining an Independent Contractor vs. an Employee
    According to California labor law, the IRS has developed a checklist to distinguish between an independent contractor vs. full time. Understand this list to avoid any conflict between employee or contractor distinctions.
  • Venture Capital Law in Switzerland
    A Q&A guide to venture capital law in Switzerland which gives a high level overview of the venture capital market; tax incentives; fund structures; fund formation and regulation; investor protection; founder and employee incentivisation and exits. This article was first published in the PLC Multi-jurisdictional guide to Venture Capital Law 2012 and is reproduced with the permission of the publisher, Practical Law Company.
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