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The 193rd General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts

Section 11.07: Effect of merger or share exchange

Section 11.07. EFFECT OF MERGER OR SHARE EXCHANGE

(a) When a merger becomes effective:

(1) the corporation or other entity that is designated in the plan of merger as the survivor continues or comes into existence, as the case may be;

(2) the separate existence of every corporation or other entity that is merged into the survivor ceases;

(3) all property owned by, and every contract right possessed by each corporation or other entity that merges into the survivor is vested in the survivor without reversion or impairment;

(4) all liabilities of each corporation or other entity that is merged into the survivor are vested in the survivor;

(5) the name of the survivor may, but need not be, substituted in any pending proceeding for the name of any party to the merger whose separate existence ceased in the merger;

(6) the articles of organization or organizational documents of the survivor are amended to the extent provided in the plan of merger;

(7) the articles of organization or organizational documents of a survivor that is created by the merger become effective; and

(8) the shares of each corporation that is a party to the merger, and the interests in an other entity that is a party to a merger, that are to be converted under the plan of merger into shares, interests, obligations, rights to acquire securities, other securities, cash, other property, or any combination of the foregoing, are converted, and the former holders of such shares or interests are entitled only to the rights provided to them in the plan of merger or to any rights they may have under PART 13.

(b) When a share exchange becomes effective, the shares of each domestic corporation that are to be exchanged for shares or other securities, interests, obligations, rights to acquire shares or other securities, cash, other property, or any combination of the foregoing, are entitled only to the rights provided to them in the plan of share exchange or to any rights they may have under PART 13.

(c) A person who becomes subject to owner liability for some or all of the debts, obligations or liabilities of any entity as a result of a merger or share exchange shall have owner liability only to the extent provided in the organic law of the entity and only for those debts, obligations and liabilities that arise after the effective time of the articles of merger or share exchange.

(d) Upon a merger becoming effective, a foreign corporation, or a foreign other entity, that is the survivor of the merger is deemed:

(1) unless, in the case of a foreign corporation, it is qualified as a foreign corporation under PART 15 after the effectiveness of the merger, to revoke the authority of its registered agent to accept service on its behalf and appoint the secretary of state as its agent for service of process in any proceeding based on a cause of action arising during the time it was authorized to transact business in the commonwealth and to appoint the secretary of state as its agent for service of process in a proceeding to enforce the rights of shareholders of each domestic corporation that is a party to the merger who exercise appraisal rights, and

(2) to agree that it will promptly pay the amount, if any, to which such shareholders are entitled under PART 13.

(e) The effect of a merger or share exchange on the owner liability of a person who had owner liability for some or all of the debts, obligations or liabilities of a party to the plan of merger or share exchange shall be as follows:

(1) The merger or share exchange does not discharge any owner liability under the organic law of the entity in which the person was a shareholder or interest holder to the extent any such owner liability arose before the effective time of the articles of merger or share exchange.

(2) The person shall not have owner liability under the organic law of the entity in which the person was a shareholder or interest holder before the merger or share exchange for any debt, obligation or liability that arises after the effective time of the articles of merger or share exchange.

(3) The organic law of any entity for which the person had owner liability before the merger or share exchange shall continue to apply to the collection or discharge of any owner liability preserved by paragraph (1), as if the merger or share exchange had not occurred.

(4) The person shall have whatever rights of contribution from other persons are provided by the organic law of the entity for which the person had owner liability with respect to any owner liability preserved by paragraph (1), as if the merger or share exchange had not occurred.