Impact of mergers and acquisitions in the financial sector of the Nairobi Securities Exchange - an event study approach

Abstract

This paper examines the impact of mergers and acquisitions in the financial services firms listed on the NSE on shareholder wealth in Kenya during the period 2000-20015. With the use of event study methodology, we reject the "semi-strong form" of Efficient Market Hypothesis (EMH) of the Nairobi Securities Exchange. We find that thirty days and ten days prior to the announcement of a merger and acquisition, shareholders receive considerable and significant positive cumulative average abnormal returns (CAARs). Also the results show that significant negative CAARs after the announcement of the deals. The overall results indicate that bank mergers and acquisitions have an effect on the shareholder wealth as the y significantly affect the share prices of the acquiring firm.