- What is the purpose of an amalgamation or merger?
- Planning and due diligence
- What is an amalgamation?
- What is a merger?
- Amalgamation process for incorporated associations
More information
Before reading further, see our guide to working with other organisations.
- conduct ‘due diligence’ on each other
- have a thorough understanding of the organisation or organisations they are thinking about combining with, and
- check whether there are any problems or issues that should be addressed before undertaking the amalgamation or merger
- investigating one another by requesting certain information from one another (including corporate, financial, contractual and insurance documents), then
- reviewing and analysing that information, often with the assistance of professionals such as lawyers and accountants
More information
For more information about due diligence, see our guide to working with other organisations.
Don’t know your legal structure?
To find out your organisation’s legal structure:
- If your organisation is a charity, search the ACNC register. Once you have found your organisation’s entry, you can check your rules or constitution which should state the type of legal structure. You can search by name and by ABN or ACN.
- If your organisation is not a charity, start with the Australian Business Register search. You will need the name and ideally the ABN or ACN of your organisation. If your group is a company limited by guarantee (an Australian Government not-for-profit structure) this will be indicated in the entry as ‘Australian public company’. If your group is a state-based not-for-profit structure such as an incorporated association or a co-operative, it’s likely that the ABR will list it as 'other incorporated entity'. You will then need to search your state or territory regulator of not-for-profits to confirm your structure.
- one or more organisations becomes part of another, or
- two or more organisations merge to create a new organisation
- what is a merger?
- what is the effect of a merger?
- potential advantages and disadvantages of a merger
- the merger process
- what does your organisation need to do after merging?
- what is amalgamation?
- what is the effect of amalgamation?
- key issues to consider before amalgamating
- potential advantages and disadvantages of amalgamation
- the amalgamation process
- what does your organisation need to do after amalgamating?
