Aviva adds to US business by buying fund management business

Aviva is pushing further into the US with the purchase of an American fund management business. The insurer is paying an undisclosed amount for Kentucky-based River Road Asset Management, which had assets of $6m at the end of 2008. The move is designed to boost Aviva's institutional business in the US. Aviva entered the US market in 2006 with the £1.6bn purchase of AmerUs and recently listed its shares on the New York Stock Exchange. It has been on the lookout for acquisitions after conserving cash with a dividend cut, and raising further funds with the partial flotation of its Dutch business Delta Lloyd. Aviva shares have added 7.5p to 402p.