Scottish Investment Trust gets shareholder green light for Aviva share buy-back

The stake is held by Friends Life, which was acquired by Aviva in 2015.

The £842 million trust said last month that Aviva had agreed to sell back the 11.4 million shares it held in the company at at a discount of 10.75 per cent to closing net asset value per share on the business day prior to the repurchase.

SIT said that under the terms of the £87 million share repurchase agreement it will buy Aviva’s holding of shares and cancel them, thus shrinking the size of the company by nearly 12 per cent.

The 129-year-old global fund, which has a stock market worth of about £735 million, said when announcing the deal last month: “Aviva gained control of a substantial shareholding in the company in November 2015.

“Aviva has not previously been a long term investor in the company and therefore, given the size of Aviva’s shareholding, the board entered into discussions with Aviva to understand whether Aviva would retain its shareholding over the longer term.”