Thursday, August 11 2005 16:55 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

London: World's sixth largest insurer Aviva Plc today (Aug 11, 2005) said it would look for more acquisitions in Asia and continue to focus on countries like India, China, Hong Kong and Singapore for achieving faster business growth.

Aviva also plans to double its staff strength in its BPO operations in India to 8,000 by 2007, a senior official said.

"We will continue to look at acquisitions in Asia in the same way we do in the rest of the world," Aviva Life International's group executive director Philip Scott told sources in London over phone.

He, however, said the acquisitions must fit in the direction of Aviva Plc's strategy and be at a price that will increase shareholder value.

Scott identified India, China, Hong Kong and Singapore as the fastest growing Asian markets. It was also focusing on Taiwan for its R and D activities.

"We are absolutely delighted by the growth achieved by Aviva India. The growth we are achieving in India is more than adequate to drive our business," he said.

India was second only to Singapore in terms of revenues in first half. Singapore contributed 108 million pounds while India added over 50 million pounds, Hong Kong (35 million pounds) and China (16 million pounds).

Aviva Plc, which ranks 35 among Fortune 500 companies, saw its Asian business expand by 62 per cent to 172 million pounds in January-June this year, of which India was the fastest growing market.

Aviva clocked a whopping 314 per cent growth in net profit at about 1.21 billion pounds while operating profit grew by 21 per cent to 1.32 billion pounds in first half of this year.