Mergers and acquisitions, often referred to as simply M&A, jointly refer to processes by which one company combines with another. While this is often discussed as a single topic, and is often handled by the same “M&A” department within a financial institution, they represent two distinct pathways to achieving the same end. Under a merger, two companies of roughly equal size mutually agree to join together as one new combined entity; in an acquisition scenario, a larger company takes over another firm, with or without its consent, with the acquiring company keeping its name and the target firm ceasing to exist.
M&A activity is one of the most important and high-profile aspects of the corporate finance world, as these transactions can dramatically alter the competitive position of massive firms and reshape the industries in which they operate. As a matter of strategic management, the goal of M&A is to create new value through consolidating the resources, market reach, or other beneficial synergies. However, while careful due diligence and financial analysis is carried out by stakeholders on all sides of these high-stakes transactions, there are as many failures as successes in this field.