Aviva To Commence £600 Mln Share Buy-back On May 1 - Quick Facts

(RTTNews) - Aviva plc (AV.L, AV) announced Tuesday that it will commence a share buy-back of its ordinary shares for up to a maximum aggregate consideration of 600 million pounds. Aviva noted that it has significant excess capital and has committed to deploy 2 billion pounds of this in 2018. The deployment includes 900 million pounds of debt reduction, 500 million pounds for bolt-on acquisitions and a 600 million pounds ordinary share buy-back. The dividend yield on Aviva shares currently stands at 5.2%, and with the dividend expected to grow further, the Board believes a buy-back is a compelling use of Aviva's excess capital. Aviva said it has entered into an agreement with Citigroup Global Markets Ltd to conduct the share buy-back program on its behalf and to make trading decisions under the program independently of Aviva.

The program will commence on May 1 and will end no later than December 31, 2018.

Shares acquired by Citigroup under the agreement will be immediately sold on to Aviva and, to the extent permitted by law, such ordinary shares purchased will be canceled. Aviva has received regulatory approval for the buy-back from the PRA. Mark Wilson, Group Chief Executive Officer of Aviva , said, "Aviva has significant surplus cash and capital and we are deploying £2 billion productively in 2018. The £600 million buy-back, together with our plan to repay £900 million of expensive debt maturing this year and invest in bolt-on acquisitions, will grow Aviva's earnings, strengthen cashflow and improve debt ratios."