Long Run Impact of Mergers and Acquisitions Activities on Acquirer’s Return of Firms Listed in Eastern Africa Securities Markets

This study investigated the impact of mergers and acquisitions activities of acquiring firm return in the long run on firms listed in Eastern Africa Securities Markets. The final sample comprised of twenty five (25) completed mergers and acquisitions firms publicly trading in Eastern Africa securities markets merging with or acquiring either a private or a public target firm for the period between 1998 to 2015. Carhat four factor model was used to compute long run cumulative abnormal return. The findings of the study were insignificant. Consequently, the null hypothesis was not rejected, leading to the conclusion that, in the long ru, M&A activities do not generate significant returns to acquiring firms listed on Eastern Africa securities markets. The findings of this study resonates with majority of the existing studies.