Aviva Plc’s plan to buy Direct Line Insurance Group Plc for roughly £3.7 billion ($5.09 billion) to create the UK’s largest m
otor insurer has been given the nod from the country’s competition regulator.
The Competition and Markets Authority said in a statement that it h
as decided, on the information currently available to it, not to refer the ab
ove merger to a phase 2 investigation. The text of its decision will be made available as soon as is reasonably practicable, the CMA said.
Direct Line and Aviva together are poised to surpass their biggest motor insurance competitor Admiral, according
to some estimates. Bloomberg Intelligence has said previously that the deal could double Aviva’s share in that market.
Read more: Aviva’s £3.7 Billion Direct Line Deal Faces UK Merger Review
Bromley, England-based Direct Line sells insurance under it
s eponymous brand as well as through units including Churchill, Green Flag, Privilege and Darw
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in Motor Insurance. In addition to car insurance, it also offers home, travel, pet and life insurance as well as offering cover for businesses.
Three years after Citizens Property Insurance Corp. made the unprecedented move to resolve many of its resid
ential claims disputes through a state agency instead of through liti
gation, officials are now planning to send some commercial claims down that same path.
That will include condominium and other commercial residential coverage disputes, officials said at
Citizens Board of Governors committee meeting Wednesday. The board’s Actuarial and Underwriting Committ
ee voted to start offering new endorsements to commercial polici
es, giving the insurer or the insured the option of having disputes heard b
y administrative law judges at the state Division of Administrative Hearings, known as DOAH.