Update: Aviva warns of 1,500 job cuts after Friends Life takeover

Aviva's £5.1bn acquisition of Friends Life could see as many as 1,500 jobs cut, the company has said.

Aviva employs 5,000 in its UK life business, and Friends Life a further 3,700, according to the FT. The firms have hailed the creation of a "British champion" and claim they can cut £225m of costs by 2017 by combining forces. However, in publishing its prospectus for the deal this afternoon, Aviva acknowledged that around 1,500 jobs may go as a result. "Aviva is looking to achieve cost synergies in those areas where it identifies there to be duplication, and to take opportunities to leverage the additional scale of becoming an enlarged group," the company said this afternoon. "Aviv...