M&A
The Anglo-Saxon acronym M&A stands for mergers and acquisitions, in Italian fusioni e acquisizioni. These are extraordinary operations that involve the transfer of control of a business through ownership transfer or complete integration between two companies. European regulation on this matter is complex. To avoid abuse of dominant position and excessive concentration in a sector, companies must pass through various verification phases: turnover level, competition analysis, impact on consumers, market conditions, innovation.
M&As are one of the main corporate growth strategies and can have various objectives: market expansion (e.g. Fiat-Chrysler), acquisition of skills and technologies (e.g. Microsoft–Activision Blizzard), cost reduction (e.g. Air France–KLM), increase in corporate value (e.g. Intesa Sanpaolo–UBI Banca).