Influence of Merger and Acquisition as Survival Strategy and Return on Asset Evidenced From the Nigerian Banking Industry

Corporate finance manager must take economic and financial decision aimed at maximizing the value creation of the company and also shareholders wealth. Merger and acquisition have been identified as means of survival strategy and sustainable business growth in a distress economy rather than outright liquidation. The study employed an ex-post facto research design with a focus population of twenty four deposit money banks classified into two groups of ten trouble and fourteen sound banks. Six banks that have gone through the second round of consolidation were selected using purposive sampling technique for period of seven years (2008-2014). CAMEL indicators were used to proxy merger and acquisition input while business growth was proxied using performance measurement of ROA. The study employed both descriptive and inferential statistic using multiple regression analysis and analysis of variance to determine whether there is significant relationship between the pre and post-merger CAMEL indicator and performance measures. The study observed a mixed relationship of merger and acquisition proxy by CAMEL on business growth proxy by ROA across the sampled banks. The study concluded that merger and acquisition as survival strategy and sustainable business growth has failed to produce the desired synergistic effects among the sample banks. This negates the theoretical and financial believe that merger and acquisition automatically leads to synergistic gain and value creation for shareholders. The study recommended that the specific input into merger and acquisition in bank the CAMEL indicators should be managed better to have a positive relationship with business growth. Also the bank's management should be proactive in product diversification, risk management and enhancement of good corporate governance practices.