1st Feb 2006 08:53
Aviva PLC01 February 2006 News release 1 February 2006 AVIVA ANNOUNCES ACQUISITION AND BANCASSURANCE DEAL IN SRI LANKA Aviva plc ("Aviva") announces the acquisition of a 51% stake in Eagle InsuranceLimited ("Eagle"), the third largest insurer in Sri Lanka. In addition, Eaglehas entered into a bancassurance agreement with National Development BankLimited ("NDB"), Sri Lanka's biggest development bank and Eagle's other majorshareholder. Aviva has acquired its stake by buying a majority shareholding in Eagle'simmediate holding company, NDB Finance Lanka (Pvt) Limited from CapitalDevelopment & Investment Co Ltd ("CDIC") for a cash consideration of £15million. Aviva and NDB will be the principal shareholders of Eagle. Eagle is a composite insurer, with life, general insurance and asset managementoperations and a 20% share of the Sri Lankan life insurance market on a grosswritten premium basis. In 2004 Eagle had total gross written premiums of £19.6million. The life business accounts for 70% of Eagle's premium income, derivedpredominantly via direct sales. The general insurance business accounts for 30%of premium income, and is in line with Aviva's strategy of focusing on personaland SME commercial lines business. The bancassurance agreement with NDB is for both life and general insurancebusiness and gives access to 25,000 customers through its 28 branches. Philip Scott, executive director, Aviva International, said: "This strengthensour position in the Indian sub-continent and offers good opportunities forgrowth. Eagle is a very well-established and successful business. We will bringour bancassurance experience from India to become the pioneer for bancassurancein Sri Lanka, with the consequent first-mover advantage. We will also seek totransfer learning from Eagle's high performance direct sales model to furtherboost our direct sales operation in India." - ends - Enquiries: MediaHayley Stimpson, director of external affairs +44 (0)20 7662 7544Sue Winston, head of group media relations +44 (0)20 7662 8221 Analysts Charles Barrows, investor relations director +44 (0)20 7662 8115Nicole Marques, investor relations manager +44 (0)20 7662 8302 Notes to editors: • This transaction was made at an exchange rate of LKR180.60 = £1.00 • Aviva is the world's sixth-largest insurance group based on grossworld-wide premiums and market capitalisation (at 31 December 2004); it is oneof the leading providers of life and pensions in Europe and has substantialbusinesses in other markets around the world. • Aviva's main activities are long-term savings, fund management andgeneral insurance, with world-wide total income of £40 billion and assets undermanagement of £280 billion at 31 December 2004. • The Aviva media centre at www.aviva.com/media includes images, companyand product information and a news release archive. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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