Any person or other legal entity who acquires by purchase, merger, consolidation, devise, inheritance or other means substantially all of the business of any employer and continues the acquired business, shall be deemed to be a successor to the predecessor from whom the business was acquired for the purpose of this article and, if not already an employer prior to the acquisition, shall become an employer on the date of the acquisition and shall succeed to the employment benefit experience record of the predecessor. The department shall prescribe by regulation the notice to be given of the acquisition. For the purposes of Chapters 27 through 41 of this title the term "substantially all" means ninety-five percent or more of the business as determined by the department in a particular case.