Aviva takeover of rival Friends Life completes
UK INSURER Aviva was up by 1.17 per cent after the first day of trading following completion of its takeover of Friends Life.
The company announced yesterday that almost 1.1bn new Aviva shares had been admitted to the London Stock Exchange, taking its total number of issued shares to around 4.05bn.
Aviva unveiled its £5.6bn deal to buy Friends Life at the beginning of December 2014.
The takeover bid initially sent share prices down when the proposed terms of the transaction were leaked to the market in November 2014, with many analysts pouring cold water on the idea and predicting that shares would continue to decline.
However, Aviva chief exec Mark Wilson appeared to win over the cynics, and the share price has since improved on where it was before the acquisition was announced.