SUMMARY
The aim of the study is to examine the impact of mergers and acquisition on financial performance in the Nigerian financial system. The study examined selected financial institutions in the banking sector. Specifically, some financial indicators such as asset profile, credit risk, capital structure, liquidity, size and cost control ratios, were extracted from the audited financial reports of the selected banks for the period 2000-2010 to compare the performance of the selected financial institutions in the ex-ante period and compare these performance with the ex post period of their mergers and acquisitions. Longitudinal and time series analyses were employed to observe the performance of the selected banks. Results from the analysis suggest that credit risks showed a better post merger performance, but were statistically insignificant and negatively related with the performance of the selected financial institution pre-merger. Asset profile was found to be significant and positively related with post-merger in relation to the performance of the selected financial institutions, but it was insignificant and negatively related to the financial performance of the selected firms pre-merger. Capital structure of the selected firms was found to be significant and positively related to the performance of the firms’ pre-merger, but insignificant and negatively related to the performance of the firms post-merger. Liquidity of the firms indicated a significant and positive relationship with the performance of the banks pre-merger. However, post merger result indicates that, there was no significant and positive relationship between the liquidity of the firms and financial performance post-merger. The size of the selected banks indicated a significant relationship with their performance in both the pre-merger and post-merger periods. The cost control variable indicated a statistically significant and negative relationship with the performance of the banks post-merger period, but showed no significant relationship with performance of the banks in the pre-merger period. Finally, the results indicate that mergers and acquisitions can have significant impact on the performance of the selected financial institutions in Nigeria.