, Columnist
A Fight in the Church Pews
Aviva's plan to cancel its preference shares gets an almighty slap-down.
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All is not well in the sleepy backwater of British preference shares.
Insurer Aviva Plc's announcement last week that it may cancel its non-redeemable preference shares has caused consternation among money managers as well as individual investors, many of which hold the securities in their pension pots. The possibility that companies could redeem what were supposedly permanent securities with a high yield triggered a rout across the wider market.