Speculation that Aviva is ripe for a foreign takeover saw shares for the company leap by more than 10% on Friday, but Monday appears to be a much calmer trading day.
Media reports over the weekend speculated that Canadian company Intact Financial, Scandinavian group Tryg and German insurer Allianz may each be interested in acquiring Aviva, at a price of up to £6 per share.
The speculation appears to have settled down on Monday, with the share price seeming to not deviate much from Friday’s close, and trending down.
At the time of publication, Aviva – which is listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) – had a share price of about £4.03.
Shares closed on Friday at £4.09, but they started the day trading at about £3.86 and the value had risen to as high as £4.27 – an increase of just over 10%.
But the share price is still significantly below March 2023 when it reached £4.62.
Aviva told Health & Protection, that it would not be commenting on the speculation.
Intact acquisitions
Intact has already been in acquisition mode, having announced in September that it and its subsidiary RSA would be acquiring Direct Line Insurance Group for £520m. The transfer would result in the transfer of renewal rights, brands, employees and systems to RSA.
Charles Brindamour, CEO of Intact Financial explained the strategy behind the UK acquisition, saying: “This acquisition significantly strengthens our UK&I business, and is strongly aligned with our strategic and financial objectives.
“The transaction enhances our position in the UK by doubling down on lines of business where we already outperform.”
Aviva interested in RSA
In August Health & Protection reported that Aviva PMI sales soared by 58% over the first six months of the year, contributing to an 18% rise in new business for the combined health and protection arm compared to the same period last year.
Amanda Blanc, group CEO of Aviva (pictured) described her company as “the number one player in protection” in the second quarter of the year.
Adding another layer, it has also been speculated that Aviva is in talks to take over the consumer operations of RSA.
Last month Aviva acquired AIG Life UK and its approximately 2.7 million customers from AIG subsidiary Corebridge Financial for £460m.
At the time, Blanc said: “This acquisition brings significant strategic and financial benefits to Aviva.
“It strengthens our prospects in the highly attractive UK protection market and continues our progress in repositioning the group towards capital-light growth.”
At the time of the acquisition brokers described AIG Life’s exit from the UK protection market as sad news for high net worth individuals (HNWIs) and customers’ with families alike.