Impact of Mergers and Acquisitions of Exploration of Oil and Gas Companies on Shareholder Returns in Nigeria

This study examined the impact of mergers and acquisitions of exploration of oil and gas companies on shareholder returns in Nigeria. the specific objective sought; is to examine the effect of the falling price of oil and gas on the shareholder equity in Nigeria and to evaluate the effect of increased oil prices on the return on equity in Nigeria. The secondary data adopted were obtained from CBN statistical bulletin. A statistical test (ANOVA) and multiple comparisons were used to analyze the data. The result revealed that the return on asset ROA has a significant positive level of 0.486 is not less than 0.05. while return on equity ROE has a significant positive level of 0.021 is less than 0.05. We conclude that mergers and acquisitions of exploration of oil and gas companies have a significant positive impact on the shareholder returns in Nigeria. We recommended that shareholders should continue with mergers and acquisitions because they added more value to their shares.