Friends Life partnership scheme sells nearly £164m of Aviva shares

The partnership structure created by insurance group Friends Life has sold nearly £164m of shares in UK insurer Aviva, according to a report by Reuters on Tuesday.Dubbed as "Value Share", the partnership structure was created by Friends Life in order to reward its founders."Value Share" sold 30.8m Aviva shares priced at 532p each, according to a Reuters source familiar with the matter. "The seller received Aviva shares as consideration for the merger, and has now decided to sell," the source said.The share placement comes after Aviva announced the purchase of Friends Life for £5.6bn last year.Friends Life shares were down 1.7% at 413p while Aviva shares lost 1.5% at 540p.