Aviva believed RSA offer not in shareholder's best interests
UK insurance giant Aviva has today begun to fight back in a war of words with shareholders over the £5 billion offer from RSA to acquire the company's UK, Irish and Canadian general insurance businesses. The Aviva management believes that the £5 billion offer was "not in the best interests of shareholders" and as such the offer was rejected and not even made public.
It is only now becoming clear that a possible acquisition by RSA would have left Aviva with pension fund liabilities, thereby somewhat tarnishing the value of the bid. The company also believes that a potential sale of the general insurance operation would've been at the bottom of the insurance cycle and therefore the best price would not have been obtained. So will this be enough to calm down institutional shareholders?
There's no doubt that short-term damage has been done to the relationship between the Aviva management and institutional shareholders. However, now that the company has gone public with its reasons for rejecting the offer you can understand why the company took this particular position. Whether the deal should have been referred to shareholders is a matter of opinion.
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