In business, consolidation or amalgamation is the merger and acquisition of many

smaller companies into a few much larger ones. In the context of financial
accounting, consolidation refers to the aggregation of financial statements of a group
company as consolidated financial statements. The taxation term of consolidation refers to
the treatment of a group of companies and other entities as one entity for tax purposes.
Under the Halsbury's Laws of England, 'amalgamation' is defined as "a blending together of
two or more undertakings into one undertaking, the shareholders of each blending
company, becoming, substantially, the shareholders of the blended undertakings. There
may be amalgamations, either by transfer of two or more undertakings to a new company,
or to the transfer of one or more companies to an existing company".
Overview