Friends Life climbs and Aviva falls as market digests M&A move

Laura Dew
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Friends Life was the biggest riser in the FTSE 100 index this morning, while Aviva was the largest faller after plans for a merger between the two companies were announced on Friday.

Shares in Friends Life were up 5.3% to 366p following the news, while Aviva's stock fell 4.7% to 513p by mid-morning. The proposed deal would see Aviva take over Friends Life for a total price of £5.6bn, amounting to 0.74 Aviva shares for each Friends Life share. Aviva said the move would boost profits and assets under management through the addition of Friends Life's UK assets under administration, which are mainly outsourced at present. However, the market was not as optimistic about the advantages of the deal for Aviva, with analysts suggesting the move may be risky for the firm...

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