Across six Chapters, this thesis examines the legal effects of mergers and acquisitions (M&As) on the employees, Board of Directors and shareholders of companies with the objective of gaining in-depth understanding of this area. The thesis then develops legal and practical solutions for the problems and negative effects associated with M&As, specifically regarding employees, Boards of Directors and shareholder companies involved in such operations. This research determines to answer the following question: How do mergers and acquisitions (M&As) affect employees, management and shareholders rights and obligations? And what the legal basis for transferring their rights and liabilities between companies involved in M&As? Despite the importance of M&As as a means of economic concentration and emergence in terms of major commercial or industrial projects, the laws of both the UAE and Qatar do not sufficiently address the issue of mergers or their goals and conditions. They also fail to regulate acquisitions or to otherwise specify when acquisitions become necessary for companies. Furthermore, the laws do not specify the rights of workers regarding their knowledge of or participation in M&As or developed adequate solutions for the negative impacts on companies workers in such processes. These laws do not provide the right for the Board of Directors of the transferor company to merge with the Board of Directors of the transferee company. Additionally, they also unsuccessfully address the minority shareholders right (those not interested in the merger) to exit the merged company and recover the value of their shares. Moreover, the UAE and Qatar have not developed appropriate solutions for the exchange of shares between companies involved in mergers in the case of dissimilarity between the actual values of the shares of both companies. This has notably led to jurisprudence and judiciary confusion between the concept of M&As, their legal nature and the legal basis or theory for the transfer of the rights and liabilities of employees, management and shareholders between companies involved in M&A operations. In accordance with legal texts, the above discussion, M&A legal theory and the theory of the agency contract between a company and its Board of Directors, the thesis argues that M&As should not lead to cutting labour contracts or negatively affect employee rights as long as corporate ventures remain in place and M&A operations do not lead to the liquidation of merged or acquired companies. Also, the thesis shows that a company is linked with its Board of Directors through a special form of agency contract, which justifies the transfer of the rights of the Board of Directors of the merged company with regards to the merging or new company management. The thesis also develops solutions and processes for the exchange of shares between merged companies when there are differences between the actual values of their shares, through the shareholders of the merged company buying shares from the merging company or by selling their shares to the merging company and recovering the value of their shares in cash. The study also recommends taking a set of procedural measures during M&As, modifying some of the relevant legal texts of the UAE and Qatar, which would mitigate the negative effects of mergers and acquisitions. Furthermore, this research suggests ways to improve such laws to reach the level of those of developed countries, in order to encourage mergers and acquisitions in the region.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:564032 |
| Date | January 2012 |
| Creators | Al-Hemyari, Ameen Baggash Abdulhemed |
| Contributors | Malinauskaite, J. |
| Publisher | Brunel University |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/7174 |
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