Why Companies Do Not Pursue Attractive Mergers and Acquisitions
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Why Companies Do Not Pursue Attractive Mergers and Acquisitions ...

Chapter :  Terms and Definitions
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Terms and Definitions

Definitions of Merger and Acquisition Terms

The following terms are generally used in a similar way in academic literature, in trade press, or by M&A industry participants:

  • Mergers versus acquisitions: Mergers are often thought of as friendly combinations in which boards of the parties meet before the prospective deals are taken to shareholders or a “marriage of equals” (Overmeyer, 1993). Acquisitions may be undertaken through negotiations, like mergers, or by bids directly made to shareholders in tender offers. On occasion, these are referred to herein as takeovers. In most M&A research in the strategic management discipline, this distinction between mergers and acquisitions is not edifying and is not made (Pablo, 1991, 1994). The terms are used interchangeably in this study to mean “any transition that forms one economic unit from two or more previous ones” (Lubatkin & Shrieves, 1986, p. 497, cited in Vos & Kelleher, 2001).
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