In the law of corporations, a merger is effected when one or more corporations becomes a part of, or merges, with another corporation so that one ceases to exist and the other continues to exist. In a merger, the company that continues to exist retains its name and identity and acquires the assets, liabilities, franchises, and powers of the corporation that ceases to exist. Attorneys who practice in mergers and acquisitions (sometimes called M & A) represent corporations and other business entities in strategizing, negotiating, and carrying out transactions in which two or more companies or corporations combine into a single new entity, a merger, or where one business purchases and absorbs the assets of another, an acquisition.
Anchorage (officially called the Municipality of Anchorage) is a consolidated city-borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. With an estimated 279,243 municipal residents in 2008 (359,180 residents within the Metropolitan Statistical Area), it is Alaska's largest city and constitutes more than 40 percent of the state's total population; only New York has a higher percentage of residents who live in the state's largest city. Anchorage has been named All-America City four times, in 1956, 1965, 1984/85, and 2002, by the National Civic League. It has also been named by Kiplinger as the most tax friendly city in the United States.