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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.

Two diagrams: in a merger companies A and B combine into a new company C; in an acquisition A takes control of B. Below, the goals: expansion, technology, lower costs, value.
In a merger two firms become one; in an acquisition one takes control of the other.

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).

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