Aviva's £3.7bn Direct Line takeover triggers warning over 2,300 jobs at risk and price hikes
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Insurance giant Aviva has agreed a takeover of Direct Line in a £3.7bn deal that puts around 2,300 jobs at risk. The offer was thrashed out over the weekend to beat a Christmas Day deadline. But plans to make £125m cost savings including thousands of job cuts will cast a shadow over the festive period for the companies’ 33,000 employees.
![[Done deal: Direct Line has accepted the £3.7bn offer from Aviva]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/12/24/08/82874661-0-Thumbs_up_Direct_Line_has_accepted_a_3_7billion_offer_from_fello-a-12_1735030535080.jpg)
And it is the latest blow to London’s stock market as FTSE 250 firm Direct Line will de-list. Aviva, led by chief executive Dame Amanda Blanc, will become the UK’s second-largest car insurer behind Admiral. It is a blockbuster takeover for Blanc as she targets acquisitions in Aviva’s core markets after scrapping overseas assets to simplify the FTSE 100 business.
Swoop: Aviva boss Amanda Blanc has pulled off her bid to buy rival insurer Direct Line. Customers must be protected from sharp price hikes after Direct Line agreed to a takeover by Aviva, the former head of the competition regulator said. A tie-up will create a firm with more than a fifth of the UK home and motor insurance markets.
Lord Tyrie, former chairman of the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), said: ‘It will be extremely important to ensure no consumer detriment results.’. Some fear less competition could mean higher insurance premiums, which have soared since the pandemic.
Bijal Tanna, at management consultancy Altus Consulting, said: ‘I think that the CMA will want to look closely at this due to the impact on market share, particularly within the personal lines motor insurance market... [which]... is already dominated by a few key players.’.
