Merger and Acquisition deals in Nigeria: The ABCs

Remember when Access Bank bought Intercontinental Bank in 2013? That was a merger. The combination between Exxon and Mobil in 1998 to form ExxonMobil was also a merger. In each of these examples, the two companies combined to become one entity. But, when Stripe paid $200 million for Paystack last year, that was an acquisition. Both entities remained after the investment. 

The difference is that now, Stripe owns Paystack. Another example would be how Canal+ acquired ROK film studios from Irokotv two years ago. That was an acquisition. Both Canal+ and Rok studios remained separate entities. In a nutshell, that's the difference between mergers and acquisitions. But both mergers and acquisitions (M&As) involve one company buying ownership in another company. 

Globally, the number of M&As have been on the decline since they peaked in 2017 with 52,740 deals. In Nigeria, there has also been a decline. The number of M&A