Amanda Blanc is decided to steer Aviva Plc to one of many largest takeovers in its historical past, a spotlight in a storied insurance coverage profession the place she’s stood as much as challenges together with activist shareholders and sexist barbs.
If her £3.6 billion ($4.6 billion) plan to mix Aviva with Direct Line Insurance coverage Group Plc that was announced on Friday goes via, it’ll be her largest acquisition on document and the spotlight of greater than 4 years of labor to remodel the insurer — whereas handing Aviva a rival firm run by one among her former lieutenants.
Blanc, one of many Metropolis of London’s most influential ladies, has till Christmas to agency up the transaction, which took a number of value bumps to get Direct Line’s approval.
Direct Line could be Aviva’s largest deal because the purchase of Friends Life in 2014, bringing in 3 million motor insurance coverage prospects and an opportunity to chop prices and capital. It may additionally protect the enterprise from being swallowed by one other competitor throughout a flurry of insurance coverage offers.
“This can be a main tactical transfer, one that may bolster Aviva’s private traces enterprise within the UK. It is going to assist Amanda strengthen Aviva because the UK’s nationwide insurance coverage champion,” stated Andrew Sibbald, who suggested Blanc in his former function as chairman of Evercore in Europe.
The deal noticed an intriguing face-off and potential reunion between Blanc and Adam Winslow, who oversaw Aviva’s insurance coverage enterprise within the UK and Eire earlier than taking the highest job at Direct Line in March. Winslow has since employed two Aviva executives as Direct Line’s chief monetary and chief threat officers. The strikes led to some animosity between Blanc and Winslow, folks acquainted with the matter stated, asking to not be recognized discussing inside issues.
When requested beforehand about reported friction with Blanc, Winslow advised the Sunday Occasions: “I respect her… she’s doing her job, however I’ve acquired my job to do, which is to drive worth for shareholders.”
He’s achieved a giant payout for the corporate and himself by securing a bid of 275 pence, though it stays unclear whether or not he’ll have a job within the mixed entity.
Earlier than Aviva pounced in November, Direct Line shares had been in a droop, buying and selling under their 2012 IPO value regardless of a method overhaul prompted by takeover curiosity from Ageas earlier this 12 months. Winslow had repeatedly insisted that the agency may succeed as a standalone enterprise.
No matter occurs, Blanc, 57, has already shaken up Aviva and gained spherical many buyers, having confronted down detractors together with one activist shareholder and later a string of sexist feedback on the agency’s annual assembly.
Aviva has divested from France, Poland, Italy and Asia on her watch, refocusing the agency on the UK, Eire and Canada. When activist Cevian Capital AB offered its holding in 2023, it stated Blanc and her staff had accomplished an “glorious job.” The shares are up about 30% throughout her tenure.
“It was instantly clear that Amanda had the power to execute a posh plan at tempo,” stated Sibbald.
Former colleagues describe her as disciplined and concrete.
Her standing has introduced some outdated opinions into the open. At Aviva’s 2022 shareholder meeting, one investor claimed Blanc was “not the person for the job” and one other questioned whether or not she needs to be sporting trousers.
“Such a stuff was stated in personal, maybe from the security of 4 partitions inside an workplace — the truth that folks are actually making these feedback in a public AGM is a brand new growth for me personally,” she responded on LinkedIn. She stated she was used to “sexist and derogatory feedback after 30 plus years in monetary providers.”
Blanc’s profession in insurance coverage began in 1989 at Industrial Union, which later grew to become a part of Aviva. She joined French large Axa SA a decade later, and rejoined in 2011 following stints at Towergate Insurance coverage and Groupama. She rose to change into head of the UK and Eire operations, overseeing thousands and thousands of pensions and insurance policies.
No Compromise
She isn’t recognized to compromise on her concepts. She stop Swiss insurer Zurich in 2019, eight months after becoming a member of as EMEA CEO, after clashes with group boss Mario Greco.
In 2021, she resigned from the Welsh Rugby Union board, calling out the misogyny she had confronted throughout her time on the sporting group.
Blanc grew up within the Rhondda Valley, one among Wales’s coal heartlands, the place her grandfathers each mined. As a young person she witnessed the business’s regular decline. In an interview with the Monetary Occasions in 2022, she recalled how “that was extremely tough. Individuals could be knocking on the door asking for meals, donations for meals, the neighborhood got here collectively.”
She is one among a handful of Welsh ladies who’ve constructed high-profile careers within the Metropolis. Fresenius Medical Care CEO Helen Giza and Deutsche Financial institution’s world head of M&A Alison Harding-Jones belong to the identical era of ladies from the nation.
“In reshaping Aviva’s portfolio so dramatically, she has demonstrated readability of thought and an execution drive that not many individuals possess at this stage,” stated Sibbald.
{Photograph}: Aviva CEO Amanda Blanc; photograph credit score: Hollie Adams/Bloomberg
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