Aviva buys Friends First and bulks up

Aviva Ireland wants to increase its market share in pensions and life-assurance, having completed a €130m acquisition of Friends First, writes Eamon Quinn. 

Friends First’s 250,000 customers will not be affected by the purchase, which will first require the green light from regulators, Aviva said.

However, the tie-up, which creates a new life business controlling about 15% of the Irish assurance market, will still be considerably smaller than market leader, Irish Life — owned since the financial crisis by Canada’s Great-West Lifeco — and other firms, such as New Ireland and Zurich.