(a) Upon the merger or consolidation becoming effective, the several corporations, parties to the agreement of merger or consolidation, shall be a single corporation, which in the case of a merger shall be that corporation designated in the agreement as the surviving corporation and, in the case of a consolidation, shall be the new corporation provided for in the agreement of consolidation. The separate existence of all the constituent corporations parties to said agreement except the surviving corporations, in the case of a merger, or the new corporation, in the case of a consolidation, shall thereupon cease.
(b) All the property, real, personal and mixed of each of the corporations, parties to the agreement of merger or consolidation, and all debts or obligations due to any of them shall be taken and be deemed to be transferred to and vested in the surviving or new corporation, as the case may be, without further act or deed.
(c) The surviving or new corporation shall, upon effectuation of the merger or consolidation, thenceforth be responsible for all the liabilities and obligations of each of the corporations so merged or consolidated; but the liabilities of the merging or consolidating corporations or of their directors or officers shall not be affected, and the rights of creditors thereof or of any person dealing with such corporations or any liens upon the property of such corporations shall not be impaired by the merger or consolidation, and any claim existing or action or proceeding pending by or against any of such corporations may be prosecuted to judgment as if the merger or consolidation had not taken place, or the surviving or new corporation may be proceeded against or substituted in its place.
(d) In the case of a merger, the certificate of incorporation of the surviving corporation, if such corporation is a domestic insurer, shall be deemed to be amended to the extent, if any, that changes in its certificate are stated in the articles of merger; and in the case of a consolidation, the statements set forth in the articles of consolidation, in case the new corporation is one formed under the laws of this State, which are required or permitted to be set forth in the certificate of incorporation of such insurer formed under the general corporation laws of this State, shall be deemed to be the certificate of incorporation of the new corporation.