d. Business combinations
Business combination is accounted for using the acquisition method. The consideration transferred is measured at fair value, which is the aggregate of the fair value of the assets transferred, liabilities incurred or assumed and the equity instruments issued in exchange for control of the acquiree. For each business combination, non-controlling interest is measured at fair value or at the proportionate share of the acquiree’s identifiable net assets. The choice of measurement basis is made on a transaction-by-transaction basis. Acquisition-related costs are expensed as incurred. The acquiree’s identifiable assets and liabilities are recognized at their fair values at the acquisition date.
Goodwill is initially measured at cost, being the excess of the aggregate of the consideration transferred and the amount recognized for non-controlling interests, and any previous interest held, over the net identifiable assets acquired and liabilities assumed. If the fair value of the net assets acquired is in excess of the aggregate consideration transferred, the Group re-assesses whether it has correctly identified all of the assets acquired and all of the liabilities assumed, and reviews the procedures used to measure the amounts to be recognized at the acquisition date. If the re-assessment still results in an excess of the fair value of net assets acquired over the aggregate consideration transferred, then the gain is recognized in profit or loss.
When the determination of consideration from a business combination includes contingent consideration, it is measured at its fair value on acquisition date. Contingent consideration is classified either as equity or a financial liability. Amounts classified as a financial liability are subsequently remeasured to fair value with changes in fair value recognized in profit or loss when adjustments are recorded outside the measurement period. Changes in the fair value of the contingent consideration that qualify as measurement-period adjustments are adjusted retrospectively, with corresponding adjustments made against goodwill. Measurement-period adjustments are adjustments that arise from additional information obtained during the measurement period, which cannot exceed one year from the acquisition date, about facts and circumstances that existed at the acquisition date.
If the initial accounting for a business combination is incomplete by the end of the reporting period in which the combination occurs, the Group shall report in its consolidated financial statements provisional amounts for the items for which the accounting is incomplete. During the measurement period, the Group shall retrospectively adjust the provisional amounts recognized at the acquisition date to reflect new information obtained about facts and circumstances that existed as of the acquisition date and, if known, would have affected the measurement of the amounts recognized as of that date.
In a business combination achieved in stages, the acquirer remeasures its previously held equity interest in the acquiree at its acquisition-date fair value and recognizes the resulting gain or loss, if any, in profit or loss.