merger

noun

1. a statutory combination of two or more corporations by the transfer of the properties to one surviving corporation.
2. any combination of two or more business enterprises into a single enterprise.
3. an act or instance of merging.

noun

1. commerce the combination of two or more companies, either by the creation of a new organization or by absorption by one of the othersOften called (Brit): amalgamation
2. law the extinguishment of an estate, interest, contract, right, offence, etc, by its absorption into a greater one
3. the act of merging or the state of being merged

n.1728 in legal sense, “extinguishment by absorption,” from merge (v.), on analogy of French infinitives used as nouns (e.g. waiver). From 1889 in the business sense; not common until c.1926. General meaning “any act of merging” is from 1881. The union of two or more independent corporations under a single ownership. Also known as takeovers, mergers may be friendly or hostile. In the latter case, the buying company, having met with resistance from directors of the targeted company, usually offers an inflated (overmarket) price to persuade stockholders of the targeted company to sell their shares to it. Such mergers often have been financed by junk bonds.