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.
Free Union is a small unincorporated community in Albemarle County, Virginia, United States, ten miles north-northwest of Charlottesville. It has a small central business district (pictured at right) consisting of a private school, a doctor's office, a post office, a country store, a homebuilder, an automobile repair shop, and several dozen homes. Otherwise it is entirely rural in character.