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This article underlines the specificities of public–private mergers by presenting the interactions between the institutional logics at stake and the cultural dynamics during the integration process of a public–private merger. The article presents a longitudinal case study of a public–private merger of two listed French companies over two years. Our study completes and enriches Schultz’s model by showing its dynamic nature and highlighting the crucial role of the state as a trigger for the interactions between institutional logics and cultural dynamics. Points for practitionersBy highlighting the interactions between cultural dynamics and institutional logics, we trace how cultural dynamics influence the decision-making process and how institutional logics influence integration by becoming dominant. We demonstrate how the state influences the interactions between these forces during the integration process.