(Alliance News) - Shares in Aviva PLC led the FTSE 100 index early Friday in London, after the Times reported on market rumours of takeover interest in the insurer.
Aviva was up 8.9% to 422.89 pence, giving it a market capitalisation of GBP11.53 billion.
Citing "City sources", the Times early Friday said at least two potential suitors are looking closely at London-based Aviva.
Names of potential bidders mentioned include Germany's Allianz SE, Denmark's Tryg AS, and Canada's Intact Financial Corp, the Times said. One of them is mulling a GBP6 per share offer, the newspaper said.
Allianz was up 1.2% at EUR223.35 in Frankfurt early Friday, while Tryg was up 1.1% to DKK131.15 in Copenhagen. Intact closed up 0.6% at CAD199.23 in Toronto on Thursday.
Aviva recently completed the process of selling off operations outside its focus areas of the UK, Ireland and Canada. It sold its operations in Italy, Poland and Lithuania to Allianz in 2021.
Also in 2021, Tryg and Intact showed their interest in UK targets, jointly acquiring RSA Insurance Group PLC and splitting its operations between them.
By Tom Waite, Alliance News editor
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Aviva (AV.)