Friends Life Group Limited has today been
acquired by Aviva
plc for £5.6 billion.
Friends Life is a Guernsey-incorporated company listed on the
Main Market of the London Stock Exchange and the acquisition by
Aviva has created the UK's largest insurance, savings and asset
management firm.
Shareholders of Friends Life now own 26% of the enlarged group,
which will all be branded Aviva, serving 16 million UK customers
– equivalent to about one in four households – and
around £340 billion of assets under management. The
£5.6 billion takeover of Friends Life is the largest
insurance deal in the UK since the merger of CGU and Norwich Union
in 2000, which created Aviva.
Law firm Ogier in Guernsey has advised Friends Life on
the deal. Ogier has been working with international law firm Linklaters LLP to bring the transaction to
completion.
