takeovertake·o·ver /ˈteɪkˌəʊvə-ˌoʊvər/ noun [countableC] FINANCE the act of getting control of a company by buying over 50% of its sharesTo avoid a takeover, the investment company went deeply in debt to pay a huge special dividend.
There was a takeover bid by a larger and more aggressive company.
an anti-takeover plan (=one to try and avoid a takeover)
If one company acquires another, it buys it or takes it over. A buyout is when a person or organization buys a business. An employee/staff buyout is when employees buy the company they work for. A management buyout is when a company’s senior managers buy the company they work for. A leveraged buyout is when a person or organization buys a company using a loan borrowed against the company’s assets, some of which may then be sold to pay off the loan. In order to avoid a takeover, a company may use a poison pill (=something in a company’s financial or legal structure that makes it difficult for another company to take it over). Other actions taken by companies to prevent a hostile takeover include the crown jewels defence British EnglishBrE, in which a company sells important assets cheaply to a supporter, so that the company is less attractive to buy, and then buys them back later when the takeover is less likely to happen, or the Pacman defense American EnglishAmE, in which a company that is the target of a takeover buys the shares of the company that is trying to take it over. A merger is an occasion when two or more companies or organizations join together to form a larger company.
→ creeping takeover → friendly takeover → hostile takeover → leveraged takeover → reverse takeover → unfriendly takeover