3.2 Business combinations
Business combinations are accounted for using the acquisition method at the acquisition date, which is the date on which control is transferred to the Company. The cost of an acquisition is measured as the aggregate of the consideration transferred, which is measured at acquisition date fair value, and the amount of any non-controlling interests in the acquiree. For each business combination, the Company elects whether to measure the non-controlling interests in the acquiree at fair value or at the proportionate share of the acquiree’s identifiable net assets.
Goodwill is measured as the excess of the sum of the consideration transferred, the amount of any non-controlling interests in the acquiree, and the fair value of the Company previously held equity interest in the acquiree (if any) over the net of the acquisition-date amounts of the identifiable assets acquired and the liabilities assumed. If, after reassessment, the net of the acquisition-date amounts of the identifiable assets acquired and liabilities assumed exceeds the sum of the consideration transferred, the amount of any non-controlling interests in the acquiree and the fair value of the Company previously held interest in the acquiree (if any), the excess is recognized immediately in profit or loss as a bargain purchase gain.
Costs, other than those associated with the issue of debt or equity securities, that the Company incurs in connection with a business combination are expensed as incurred.
Any contingent consideration payable is recognized at fair value at the acquisition date. If the contingent consideration is classified as equity, it is not remeasured and settlement is accounted for within equity. Otherwise, subsequent changes to the fair value of the contingent considerations are recognized in consolidated net income.
If the initial accounting for a business combination is incomplete by the end of the reporting period in which the combination occurs, the Company reports provisional amounts for the items for which the accounting is incomplete, and discloses that its allocation is preliminary in nature. Those provisional amounts are adjusted during the measurement period (not greater than 12 months from the acquisition date), or additional assets or liabilities are recognized, to reflect new information obtained about facts and circumstances that existed at the acquisition date that, if known, would have affected the amounts recognized at that date.
Sometimes obtaining control of an acquiree in which equity interest is held immediately before the acquisition date is considered as a business combination achieved in stages also referred to as a step acquisition. The Company remeasures its previously held equity interest in the acquiree at its acquisition-date fair value and recognises the resulting gain or loss, if any, in profit or loss. Also, the changes in the value of equity interest in the acquiree recognized in other comprehensive income shall be recognized on the same basis as required if the Company had disposed directly of the previously held equity interest, see Note 3.11.2.
The Company sometimes obtains control of an acquiree without transferring consideration. The acquisition method of accounting for a business combination applies to those combinations as follows:
i. | The acquiree repurchases a sufficient number of its own shares for the Company to obtain control. |
ii. | Minority veto rights lapse that previously kept the Company from controlling an acquiree in which it held the majority voting rights. |
iii. | The Company and the acquiree agree to combine their businesses by contract alone in which it transfers no consideration in exchange for control and no equity interest is held in the acquiree, either on the acquisition date or previously. |