Activist investor sells almost all stake in insurer Aviva

Activist investor Cevian Capital has sold almost its entire stake in Aviva three years after first snapping up shares in the insurance giant.

The hedge fund sold its stake in Aviva down to 60,000 shares on Wednesday, having built up a holding of 6.5%, or 150 million shares, at its peak last October.

It first took a stake in Aviva in 2020 and has since put the group and chief executive Amanda Blanc under intense pressure, demanding that the insurer boosts its return to investors to more than £5 billion.

Aviva hit that target earlier this year and at its full year results in March, it launched a further £300 million share buyback, an increased final dividend payout and upgraded its dividend outlook.

Cevian had already sold down its stake to just under 5% in February.

On its latest stake sale, Cevian reportedly said Aviva had been “transformed from a poorly performing conglomerate to a focused and well-performing insurance company”.

It comes as Aviva’s first quarter update showed an 11% jump in general insurance premiums to £2.4 billion.

The company also said it was on track to meet its target to cut £750 million of costs by 2024.

But shares fell 6% as the market saw the results as being mixed, with Aviva’s net flows into its wealth arm down by 15% year-on-year to £2.3 billion.