Aviva commences £600m share buy-back scheme

Aviva has entered an agreement with Citigroup Global Markets to conduct a £600m share buy-back programme.

It will sell £600m worth of its original shares.

Aviva has committed to deploying £2bn of its excess capital in 2018. This includes £900m of debt reduction, £500m for bolt-on acquisitions and £600m on the share buy-back programme.

The programme commences today (1 May 2018) and will end on 31 December this year.

Shares bought by Citigroup as part of the agreement will be sold onto Aviva and will then be cancelled.

Group chief executive of Aviva plc, Mark Wilson, said: “Aviva has significant surplus cash and capital and we are deploying £2bn productively in 2018. The £600m buy-back, together with our plan to repay £900m of expensive debt maturing this year and invest in bolt-on acquisitions, will grow Aviva’s earning, strengthen cash-flow and improve debt ratios.”