Shares in Direct Line rise by over 40% following rejection of £3.3bn Aviva bid

Offer 'highly opportunistic'

Direct Line has seen its shares rise by over 40% after it refused to accept a takeover bid from Aviva.

According to data from MarketWatch on Thursday (28 November), UK motor insurer's shares rose by as much as 44.6% from the previous day, at the time of reporting. In a London Stock Exchange notice on Wednesday (27 November), the board of Direct Line said it received an "unsolicited, indicative and conditional cash and share proposal" from Aviva on 19 November to take over the entire issued and to be issued share capital of Direct Line. Deep Dive: Resurgence of public company takeovers is a 'double-edged sword' for investors The proposal included 112.5p in cash and 0.282 new Aviva sh...