Aviva PLC (LON:AV) has announced that it has successfully completed its share buy-back programme. As a result, Aviva has acquired 119,491,188 shares at an average price of £5.02 per share.

Aviva announced the share buyback programme earlier this year in May. This was as a result of its 2017 results which highlighted a significant excess of capital. Aviva had committed to deploy £2 billion of the excess capital in 2018. The deployment includes three parts. First, £900 million for debt reduction. Next, £500 million for bolt-on acquisitions. Finally, a £600 million ordinary share buy-back.

Additionally, Aviva had entered into an agreement with Citigroup Global Markets LTD to conduct the buy-back programme on its behalf. Under the agreement, Citigroup conducted the share buy-back programme on Aviva’s behalf, making trade decisions independently of Aviva.

The programme was expected to last from 1 May 2018 to 31 December 2018, but it has been completed ahead of schedule.

At 11:59 BST today, shares in Aviva were trading at -0.23%.