ABSTRACT
Mergers and Acquisitions have long been used as strategies for continued growth and expansion of businesses as well as tools for reducing or totally eliminating competition. They are of different types and can be used by organizations to achieve a variety of objectives. A conglomerate merger for example can help an organization to enter a totally different product or service market and also grant it access to new technologies. There are a number of strategic reasons why companies may choose to either merger with another company or acquire another company or even allow itself to be acquired by another company. Just like mergers, acquisitions are also of different types; they can either be hostile or friendly depending on how the process is undertaken. Mergers and Acquisitions are expected to produce synergies whereby both companies will mutually benefit from each other. For example, a company will be able to gain access to new markets and have new customer base due to the fact that it mergers with another company in a target market.  However, a failure to produce a synergy means that the merger or acquisition deal is overall a failure as well.
In Nigeria, a number of mergers and acquisitions have occurred over the last 10 years due to Government regulation requiring all commercial banks to have a N25 billion capital base or risk being liquidated. Consequently, many commercial banks went into a merger and acquisition frenzy just to meet the deadline set by the Government regulated Central Bank of Nigeria. Three banks out of the many that went into a merger and acquisition deal were examined for this research work. A lens was placed on their pre-merger financial performance and their post-merger financial position in order to ascertain whether the project had been a success or a failure.
TABLE OF CONTENT
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
1.1 The Concept of Merger and Acquisition
1.2 Objectives of Mergers and Acquisitions
1.3 Problem Statement and Research Questions
1.4 Research Objectives
1.5 Plan of Study
CHAPTER TWO: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
2.1 Sources of Information
2.2 Description of methods used to collect information
2.3 Limitations of Information Gathering
CHAPTER THREE: REVIEW OF LITERATURE
3.1 Relationship between Mergers and Acquisition and Growth
3.2 Formation of Synergies
3.3 Process of Mergers and Acquisition
3.4 Effects of Mergers and Acquisition on Organizations
CHAPTER FOUR: DATA ANALYSIS AND PRESENTATION
4.1 Procedures and process of mergers and acquisition in the Nigeria
4.2 Mergers and Acquisitions in the Nigerian Banking Industry
4.3 A Comparison of Pre-Merger/Acquisition and Post-Merger/Acquisition Profitability of selected Banks in Nigeria
CHAPTER FIVE: SUMMARY, CONCLUSION, RECOMMENDATIONS
5.1 Summary of Major Findings
5.2 Conclusion
5.3 Recommendation
5.4 Bibliography