Aviva shareholders vote for Friends Life acquisition

LONDON, March 26 (Reuters) - Insurer Aviva's shareholders voted on Thursday in favour of the firm's 5.6 billion pound ($8.35 billion) agreed takeover of rival Friends Life.

At an extraordinary general meeting, more than 99 percent of Aviva (Other OTC: AIVAF - news) shareholders who voted were in favour of the merger, Aviva said in a regulatory filing. Aviva needed the agreement of more than 50 percent of the votes cast.

Aviva's share price wobbled after the terms of the merger were announced late last year, as some investors and analysts worried about the size of cost savings and the marrying of a range of IT systems.

But others said the merger made sense following UK government reforms which have put increasing pressure on pensions providers.

Retirees will from next month be free to use their pension pots as they choose, rather than being obliged to buy an income-bearing annuity, industry sales of which have already dropped sharply in anticipation of the new rules, to around 8 billion pounds last year.

Friends Life shareholders vote on the merger later on Thursday.

The merger is due to complete next month. Holders of Friends Life stock will receive 0.74 new Aviva shares for each Friends share. ($1 = 0.6703 pounds) (Reporting by Carolyn Cohn; editing by Simon Jessop)