A Brief Guide To Amalgamations In Ontario

What is an Amalgamation?

An "amalgamation" is a process by which two or more corporations (the "amalgamating corporations") merge into and carry on business as one corporation (the "amalgamated corporation").

Amalgamations are completed pursuant to the provincial Ontario Business Corporations Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. B.16(the "OBCA") or the federal Canada Business Corporations Act, R.S.C. 1985, c. C-44(the "CBCA"), depending on the incorporation jurisdiction of the amalgamating corporations. The amalgamation process is largely the same under each statute.

Amalgamating corporations must be incorporated pursuant to the same statute. If one is provincial and the other federal, then one corporation must first apply for a continuance under the other statute.