Aviva Shares in Aviva reacted poorly to the offer for Friends Life at the start of December. I suspect that this had more to do with genuine surprise, because few analysts had seen the deal coming. In addition, a large shareholder in Aviva took the chance to sell a large chunk of its holding.
I took the view that the deal favoured Aviva rather more than it did Friends Life, and as a result the insurer was one of my picks for the year. The market seems to have come around to this way of thinking: the shares opened the year at 484½p and added 37½p to 569½p yesterday on 2014 figures that showed nearly all the metrics heading in the right direction.
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