Biba 2025: Aviva leader stresses ‘no material impact’ on broker message after DLG deal

Aviva’s Owen Morris has said the insurer will continue to be “very committed” to the broker market following it making a swoop for Direct Line Group (DLG).

Aviva and DLG announced that they had agreed on the terms of a cash and share offer in December 2024.

Under the terms of the deal, for each DLG share held, shareholders will receive 0.2867 new Aviva shares and 129.7 pence in cash.

Speaking to Insurance Times at the 2025 Biba Conference, Morris, managing director of personal lines at Aviva, said that “the key thing I want brokers to hear is [the deal] will have no material impact on our message, which has been consistency in terms of, we are going to be here”.

He added: “We’re very, very committed to the broker market and those investments we are making are testament to that.

“So, there’s no negative impact whatsoever and we’ll review what more we can do in the broker market, as we always do.”

Probe

Yesterday (14 March 2025), the Competitions and Markets Authority (CMA) announced that it had started its phase one inquiry into the deal.

This review is designed to identify whether the deal may lead to a “realistic prospect of a substantial lessening of competition”.

This is a necessary procedural step in all merger investigations, which occurs once the CMA has sufficient information to start the phase one inquiry.

Prior to the announcement, Aviva said that the acquisition was progressing in line with expectations, “with completion anticipated in mid-2025”.

Morris said that “nothing has changed on timings from our perspective”.

He added: “We’re really excited about what [this deal] will do for consumers. We think, together, we can do some really great things – there is two brilliant business coming together.”