In recent years, business has been heavily preoccupied with two themes: merger and acquisition activity, and the development of the Single European Market. The topic of this paper combines the two: Continental mergers. The authors argue that the costs and benefits of Continental mergers are different from those of their domestic counterparts, and they need to be handled in different ways. This has implications both for the form of integration and for the way in which it is implemented. Most important, it is relevant to the selection of the right partner.