Past employer references

Hi all,

I was employed by a local company for about 10 years. Eventually was terminated due to poor management BS... no big loss on my end. Have been happily employed by another company for about 6 years now.

My former employer no longer exists and sold out to a large corporation several years after I left. The new company let most of the original management go, but they basically conduct the same operations in the same facility. They even have the same phone number.

My question... if I were to reference past employers on a job application, should I say my previous employer is out of business... or say they still exist?

Just trying to minimize some "damage control" since if prospective employers were to call the current company, I'm sure their HR staff would look up my file from the old company's employment records and say I wasn't eligible for rehire.

What would you do? Thanks much!