The effect of privatisation on financial performance of firms in Kenya
Abstract
The aim of this study was to investigate the
effect of privatisation on
financial and
operat
ional efficiency of firms in
Kenya
.
The data
for the study was
obtained
from
se
condary sources; specifically,
hand
b
ook from the Nairobi
Securities Exchange
, Offer
Prospectuses, as well as published annual reports and financial statements of the
privatized
firms
five years before and five years after privatization.
To test our
predictions, we followed the techniques of Megginson et al. (1994) in order to determine
post privatization performance changes. We calculated the mean value of each variable
for each
firm over the pre and post privatization periods, we then used the T
-
test and the
Wilcoxon sign rank test as principal methods of testing for significant changes in the
variables. Results obtained from this study were mixed. Whereas some companies
showed
improvements in some indicators, other companies have shown decline in some
indicators after privatization. However, in spite the mixed results, the overall picture
sho
wed improvement in performance
for the
listed
firms
and no improvements for non
-
listed
firms in o
ur sample
.