... often attract the attention of the Office of Fair Trading and the UK Competition Commission. The second type of merger is vertical. This is when business units engaged in complementary stages of a production or service process combine, e.g. breweries with pubs. As with horizontal mergers, there are; production, distribution and marketing benefits, as well as the increased certainty of supply or market outlet. And finally, a conglomerate merger is the coming together of firms which operate in unrelated business areas, such as properties with hosiery. Forces motivating their growth appear to be mainly those of risk diversification. With other motives including the opportunity for improved efficiency and cost reduction, and, in some cases, the power ambitions or desire for security of their leading shareholder or directors. Firms decide to merge for a variety of reasons, but the primary motive for most is the underlying idea that the combined entity will have ...

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