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.
Olney, a census-designated place and an unincorporated area of Montgomery County, Maryland, USA, located in the north central part of the county, twenty miles north of Washington, D.C. It was largely agricultural until the 1960s, when growth of the Washington suburbs led to its conversion into a mostly residential area. As generally defined, Olney had a total population of 31,438 in the 2000 census. In July 2007, Money magazine ranked Olney as 17 (the highest ranked town in Maryland) out of 100 in its "America's Best Places To Live" edition.