High Court scrutiny for Aviva’s reattribution of 1.2bn estate
AVIVA is to appear in the High Court today to seek approval for its plans to reattribute a £1.2bn inherited estate, in a case it expects will conclude in its favour in just two or three days.
The insurer has offered investors £500m to sign away their rights to the estate – made up of assets, built up by Aviva funds, that were never needed to meet obligations to policyholders.
Around 20 furious investors who believe they should be given more under the deal will testify in court today. Peter Vicary-Smith, chief executive of Which?, accused regulator the Financial Services Authority of handing Aviva £300m “on a silver platter” by not objecting over the weekend.
But Aviva said so far 85 per cent of affected policyholders have voted on the inherited estate plans and 96 per cent of those were in favour.