Shareholders tell Aviva to reconsider RSA bid - reports

Aviva shareholders are planning to press the insurer to reconsider the £5 billion offer from RSA for its UK, Ireland and Canada general insurance business, according to reports.

The Aviva board unanimously dismissed the bid on Monday, promoting shareholders to complain that they had not been consulted.

According to the Financial Times, ‘several’ of Aviva’s biggest shareholders have said selling the general insurance businesses would ‘unlock value’.

‘We can see the value in the group of businesses Aviva has, but we can see other management teams around the sector who would make more of them,’ one investor told the newspaper.

Standard Life said Aviva should make a deal if a higher offer is made.

Euan Stirling, investment director at Standard Life, which owns a 2.8% of Aviva and 4% of RSA, told the newspaper: ‘If RSA were to come back with a more serious bid, a slightly raised bid, then Aviva would have to take that more seriously.’