Shares in the insurer advanced on Monday morning after it was confirmed that management had reached agreement with the board of Aviva over an acquisition price for the business. The deal was first mooted on 27th November with an offer of 112.5p per share and 0.282 new Aviva shares on the table. This was rejected with an improved 129.7p per share and 0.2867 Aviva shares finally being accepted. That values each Direct Line share at 275p, a 73% premium to the pre-bid price. Under takeover rules, a deal had to be concluded by 5pm on Wednesday. The Direct Line share price is up by more than 3% at 250p in early trade.
Cruise operator Carnival saw its shares tick higher on Monday with the market continuing to find support off the back of Q4 results which were released mid-session on Friday. Full year revenues hit an all time high, momentum is tipped to carry into the new year and there are expectations that the EBITDA target laid out for 2026 will now be achieved one year early. The Carnival share price was as much as 3% higher shortly after the open before giving back some of those gains.
Over in the AIM Market, there has been some activity too with Seeing Machines announcing a strategic investment from Mitsubishi Electric Mobility as part of a collaboration agreement. The deal, worth £26.2m, will facilitate joint automotive business opportunities in Japan including leveraging Seeing Machines' proprietary IP to assess and enter new adjacent markets where Mitsubishi Electric Mobility has a leadership position. Mitsubishi Electric Mobility will also increase its holding in Seeing Machines to 19.9% through acquisition of additional shares via secondary transactions and in early trade the Seeing Machines share price is by around 15%.
Most read news on Investegate this morning
Offer for Direct Line Insurance Group plc - - Aviva (AV.)
Sale of London office - - Boohoo Group (BOO)
£26.2 million strategic investment from Mitsubishi - - Seeing Machines Ltd. NPV (DI) (SEE)
