Mergers and Acquisitions Assignment

First lets clarify the terms:

• A merger is when two companies come together, and afterwards there is only one company.
• An acquisition is when one company acquires a controlling interest in another company, but the companies continue to operate independently.
• A consolidation is when a merger occurs and the two companies agree to form a new entity (new articles of incorporation, new stock shares issued).

Your textbook describes several reasons why companies merge or acquire other companies:

• Gain complementary products
• Attain new markets or distribution channels
• Realize more efficient economies of scale

A company might also want to grow market share, gaining additional customers even within the same geographic market and/or with a very similar product.

Companies also sometimes acquire other businesses to diversify their operations and expand into entirely new businesses. The result could be a conglomerate, a large multinational parent company with many subsidiaries in different lines of business.

Using information at this site,identify a merger, acquisition or consolidation that occurred in the last three months. There are numerous sources of merger announcements including the deal sections of the NYTimes and WSJ. Tell me if the deal you chose is a merger, acquisition, or consolidation; tell us why (which of the reasons above and which are explained more fully in your textbook) the companies merged (or were acquired etc.)