Mergers and acquisitions as a phenomenon is implemented to strengthen the banking system, embrace globalization, improve healthy competition, exploit economies of scale, adopt advanced technologies, raise efficiency and improve profitability. The world globalization has led to world financial crisis which has significantly affected the banking industry and has consequently increased the need for mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in the consolidation of deposit money banks. One of the major policies introduced to solve these financial problems is by consolidation through mergers and acquisitions. This study explored the impact of post mergers and acquisitions on the performance of deposit money banks in Nigeria. The study adopted a cross sectional survey design with a total population of 22 deposit money banks in Nigeria. A sample of 10 banks was randomly selected from the above population. The study used the secondary sources to extract data from the Annual Reports of the selected banks for a period of five (5) years (2008-2012). Simple regression analysis technique was used for data analyses. The study revealed that as at the end of year 2012, the average capital base of the sampled banks in the post Merger period showed a total of (N 1.76 Trillion). This is an improvement from the recent work of Oghojafor (2012) in which average capital base stood at (N 6,358.76 Million). The study revealed an insignificant but positive relationship between post mergers and acquisitions capital base (PMACB) and dividend per share (DPS) with (P=0.985 i.e. P>0.05), earnings per share (EPS) with (P=0.803 i.e. P>0.05), return on assets (ROA) with (P=0.859 i.e. P>0.05) and return on capital employed with (P=0.666 i.e. P>0.05). This study concluded that post merger and acquisition has no significant effect on dividend per share of shareholders, their earnings per share, return on assets and return on capital employed. In a broad perspective, this study further revealed that there is a reduction in the degree of global banking crisis over the years and thus reduction in the general banking failure particularly in Nigeria. This is made possible through mergers and acquisition process which consecutively resulted in increased capital base of banking industry in Nigeria. The study recommended that equal considerations should be given to both micro and macro prudential guidelines, in order to ensure sound and stable banking system. Also, deposit money banks should incorporate into their banking policy other factors such as credit discipline, corporate culture, and management information system so as to ensure increase in their earnings ability.
Keywords: Acquisition, Banking Sector, Merger, Performance
