LONDON (Reuters) – Aviva plc said on Thursday it will increase its share buyback programme from 750 million pounds ($994.28 million) to a maximum of 1 billion pounds ($1.33 billion).
“We are increasing our share buyback as part of ourcommitment to return at least 4 billion pounds to ordinary shareholders,” group chief executive Amanda Blanc said in a statement.
Aviva has been under pressure from activist investor Cevian to increase its shareholder payouts, saying the insurer should return 5 billion pounds to investors by the end of 2022 after selling a string of its international businesses.
($1 = 0.7543 pounds)
(Reporting by Emma-Victoria Farr; Editing by Rachel Armstrong)
