There are two types of business combination:

• mergers by amalgamation: where two or more companies are merged into an existing company, the merging company is de-registered and its licence cancelled, and the surviving company assumes all assets and liabilities of the merging company; and

• mergers by combination: where two or more companies merge into a new company, the merging companies are de-registered and their licences cancelled, and the new company assumes all assets and liabilities of the ‘merging’ companies.

The main laws are UAE Federal Law No. 32/2021 on Commercial Companies (as amended from time to time) (CCL) and UAE Federal Law No. 4/2012 concerning Regulation of Competition (the Competition Law).

There are four main regulatory bodies to consider:

• the Securities and Commodities Authority (SCA);