Authorities approve Aviva deal
The Iowa insurance commissioner approved Athene Holding’s pending $1.55bn (£990.47m) purchase of UK insurer Aviva’s US annuity business, the state said yesterday Aviva’s US operations are headquartered in Iowa, and approval from that state and New York were two regulatory hurdles for the deal, Apollo said. Iowa said Aviva cannot pay dividends to shareholders for five years unless approved by its insurance commissioner.