How it started
History
Aviva can trace its history back to the establishment of the Hand in Hand Fire & Life Insurance Society in London in 1696.
It was created by a merger of two British insurance firms, Norwich Union and CGU plc (itself created by the merger of 1998 of Commercial Union and General Accident) as CGNU in February 2000. The Aviva name was adopted in July 2002. Thereafter, most of the group operations, except for some strong local brands, were carried out under the uniform brand "Aviva".
In 2002, Aviva purchased Abeille Vie, a French life insurance company.
In March 2005, Aviva acquired the RAC plc breakdown recovery operation for around £1.1 billion.
In July 2006, Aviva greatly increased its presence in the United States by acquiring AmerUs Group, a Des Moines based financial services company, founded as the Brotherhood of American Yeomen in 1896, in a $2.9 billion (£1.6 billion) deal.
From Wikipedia’s article on Aviva, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.2