The Impact of M&A on Acquirers’ Financial Performance Across the Banking Industry - Case Study of the Gulf Cooperation Council 2017–2022

Objectives: The paper attempts to empirically assess the consequences of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) on acquirer banks' post-acquisition financial performance amongst the member banks of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region. This study explores M&A's impact on critical financial indicators such as profitability, operational efficiency, asset quality, and risk management, from the perspective of GCC banks operating from 2017 to 2022. Methods: A secondary data design was employed to better ascertain how acquirers in the GCC banking industry perform after M&A. The design is characterized by collecting the performance data and conducting statistical analyses (descriptive analytics, and Kolmogorov-Smirnov, Shapiro-Wilk, and Wilcoxon Signed-Rank tests) using the SPSS tool to draw inferences. Conclusion: The research found that there is a negative impact on the performance measures of the acquirer following an M&A. However, with the exception of the size and age of the firm, this impact is statistically insignificant. To understand the performance measures that are impacted by the M&A. This research also explores the various external factors that influence the impact of M&A on performance measures. The insights from this study can be used by stakeholders when acquiring organisations to obtain a clear understanding of the possible impacts of an M&A on the organisations' performance. This paper contributes to exploring the diverse factors that may influence the impact of M&A on the performance of the acquirer, including the size of the sample, transaction model, accounting policies, and observation period. This differentiates this study from the majority of the existing research where the focus is on performance only.