Activist Investor Cevian Capital Increases Aviva Shareholding to 5.017% -- Update
August 25 2021 - 9:24AM
Dow Jones News
By Ian Walker
Aviva PLC said Wednesday that Cevian Capital II GP Ltd. now owns
197.1 million of its shares, or 5.017%, of its issued share
capital.
The FTSE 100 listed insurer made the disclosure in a regulatory
filing. The shares are worth 826.8 million pounds ($1.14 billion)
based on the company's closing price of 419.40 pence on
Tuesday.
On June 8, Swedish activist investor Cevian Capital disclosed
that it owned 4.95% of Aviva's issued share capital, and said that
the company should be able to return around GBP5 billion of excess
capital to shareholders next year.
Cevian Capital, which describes itself as a "long-term, hands-on
owner of European listed companies," said at the time that it saw
the potential for Aviva to save at least GBP500 million in costs by
2023.
Aviva said earlier this month that it planned to buy back up to
300 million shares for up to GBP750 million and return at least
GBP4 billion to investors by the end of the first half of 2022.
"We have increased our ownership in Aviva as the company
continues to make swift progress on operational transformation,
divestments and excess capital return. We remain confident that
Aviva will meet or exceed the expectations we have previously
communicated," Niko Pakalen, partner at Cevian Capital, said.
Shares at 1354 GMT were up 1.20 pence, or 0.3%, at 420.60
pence.
Write to Ian Walker at ian.walker@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
August 25, 2021 10:14 ET (14:14 GMT)
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