What are the greatest risks within a Merger/Acquisition?

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The risks present in a merger are most often relatively few as both parties will not place themselves into a position to be greatly harmed; a merger is an agreement for mutual gain by two businesses in the hopes of improving the overall function and health of both businesses by combining the two, which can best function together than apart.
Also, despite the delicate and dangerous nature of an acquisition, there are many positives, mentioned previously, to the purchasing of another business in which your business can then grow and increase in productivity.

There are though, some legitimate risks when a merger or acquisition takes place.
First, sometimes new synergies are not created between two different businesses and the talents within each side are not successfully combined and thus, the success and productivity/creativity of the two become stifled instead of complimented. Often, many different businesses don’t know how to co-exist and sometimes just can’t work together.
For example, cultural or structural differences within a business can hinder cohesive teamwork.
Also, companies sometimes enter a merger and acquisition without adequately setting up a proper budget and plan-of-action. Lastly, people within the businesses don’t like change, which is precisely what a merger and acquisition is.
In addition, the very nature of an acquisition or merger can be a troubling situation when market power, competition and the consumer all come into consideration.

All acquisitions and mergers have the very real possibility of radically shifting market power to one business. Therefore, competition authorities and various branches of government review and then approve or deny corporate combinations because of this serious risk to businesses and consumers.



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