Aviva: Preliminary Agreement Reached on Financial Terms for Acquisition of Direct Line

Aviva and Direct Line have jointly announced they have a preliminary agreement on the financial terms for Aviva's acquisition of Direct Line. These terms include a cash offer of GBX 129.7 per Direct Line share plus a stock offer of 0.2867 new Aviva shares, which at the GBX 489.3 per-share closing price for Aviva on Dec. 5, represents a stock offer for Direct Line of GBX 270 per share. The consideration has been sweetened by a GBX 5 per-share dividend to be paid to shareholders of Direct Line. That cash consideration is GBP 1.69 billion, stock consideration of GBP 1.82 billion, dividend consideration of GBP 65 million, for a total consideration of GBP 3.6 billion for Direct Line.