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.
There is also Ashland Township in Clarion County. Ashland is a borough in Schuylkill county in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, 12 miles (19 km) northwest of Pottsville. The Borough lies in the anthracite coal region of eastern Pennsylvania. Settled in 1850, Ashland was incorporated in 1857, and was named for Henry Clay's estate near Lexington, Kentucky. Population in 1900, 6,438; in 1910, 6,855; and in 1940, 7,045. The population was 3,283 at the 2000 census. Ashland is part of the Pottsville Micropolitan Statistical Area.