Factors Affecting the Liquidity of Firms After Mergers and Acquisitions: A Case Study of Commercial Banks in Vietnam

The purpose of the research is to assess the factors affecting the liquidity of the commercial banks that are conducting mergers and acquisitions activities in Vietnam during the 2008-2018 period. This study employs samples based on 2-component data sets with cross-section and time-series data collected from the annual report of the State Bank and the audited acquisitions financial statements of nine commercial banks engaged in mergers and acquisitions activities. To carry out the research objectives, the authors conducted quantitative analysis through the Pooled OLS, REM, FEM and GMM models. The results shown that: (i) bank liquidity is positively affected by liquidity lagged, the return on equity (ROE) and economic growth; negatively affected by bank size, non-performing loan, short-run loan to deposit ratio; (ii) there is not enough evidence to conclude about the relationship between net profit margin, equity-to-assets ratio and inflation rate to bank liquidity; (iii) notably, we found evidence that, after the mergers and acquisitions, the liquidity of Vietnamese commercial banks decreased. The findings of this study suggest that bank managers take a more comprehensive view of the results of mergers and acquisitions and implications for banks to improve liquidity in the post-merger and acquisitions conditions.