You use the term merger when there are two or more companies that would decide to stick together so that they can create a new company. An amalgamation is a process by which one business entity will start to acquire other business entities so that it can become bigger and better than before. During a merger, one of the companies may be able to keep its name, or they may decide to change the name of the merged companies entirely. For the amalgamation occurs when there are two businesses that operate the same that would like to save on costs. Instead of acquiring two different bills, they would merge in order to lessen the expenses that they have to pay.