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.
Hartsville is a town in Trousdale County, Tennessee, United States. It is the county seat of Trousdale County, with which it shares a consolidated city-county government. The population of Hartsville was 2,395 at the 2000 census, but after consolidation with the county in 2001, the population of the consolidated entity became equal to that of the county (7,259 in 2000). Hartsville is the county seat of Trousdale County, Tennessee and now coextensive with it as a metropolitan government by virtue of a referendum which passed in Trousdale County by a single vote. Trousdale County High School is located here, as well as a technical school operated by the Tennessee Board of Regents. Trousdale County is one of two counties in Tennessee to have legalized parimutuel betting on horse racing, but no group has ever stepped forward to build a racetrack. Hartsville is located slightly north of the Cumberland River and is approximately fifty miles northeast of Nashville. In 1977, the Tennessee Valley Authority began construction on the Hartsville Nuclear Plant, but cancelled the project in 1984 after spending nearly two billion dollars. The plant's unused cooling tower dominates the view south from State Route 25 between Smith County and Trousdale County.