Aviva announces £403m sale of shares in Spain

Aviva has announced the sale of its 50% shareholdings in life insurance and pension joint ventures Unicorp Vida and Caja España Vida, as well as its retail life insurance business Aviva Vida y Pensiones, to Santalucía.

Santalucia is set to complete the transaction in a £403m (€475m) deal.

This sale is part of Aviva’s strategy of allocating capital to markets where it can deliver higher returns and is part of a review of its Spanish operations.

The transaction will result in a gain of approximately £120m in Aviva’s IFRS net asset value and an increase of approximately £130m in Aviva’s Solvency II capital surplus.

The sale is subject to regulatory and anti-trust approvals and is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2017.

In Spain, Aviva will continue to hold shareholdings in life insurance joint ventures with Caja Granada and Cajamurcia, both part of Banco Mare Nostrum, and Pelayo Group.

Following the restructuring of the Spanish banking system, and the subsequent consolidation among Aviva’s banking partners, Aviva has made moves to protect the value of its distribution agreements in Spain.

As a result, Aviva sold its shareholdings in its joint ventures with Bankia in 2012 and Novacaixagalicia Grupo in 2014 for a combined £720m.

Mark Wilson, group chief executive officer of Aviva, said: “This is a strong outcome for Aviva. The consideration of €475m is an attractive valuation and the sale further simplifies the Group.

“It highlights our absolute focus on allocating capital effectively across the group and further strengthens our capital and liquidity position.”

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