Man’s prosperous firm forming merger (7)
I believe the answer is:
richard
'merger' is the definition.
Both the answer and definition are singular nouns.
Perhaps there's a link between them I don't understand?
'man's prosperous firm' is the wordplay.
'man' becomes 'Ric'.
'prosperous firm' becomes 'hard' (both can mean durable or strong. I am not sure about the 'prosperous' bit.).
'ric'+'hard'='RICHARD'
'forming' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for richard that I've seen before include "'Beau' Nash's first name" , "-- Strauss, composer" , "Boy's name - Cliff?" , "man" , "Sir Cliff" .)