Aviva outlines plan to boost share price Aviva has unveiled plans to sell or wind down about a third of its business as the FTSE 100 insurer attempts to avoid cutting its dividend or raising fresh equity. The group, which saw its former chief executive Andrew Moss resign this year after shareholder backlash about director pay and performance, hopes to complete the mass disposal programme within 18 months. John McFarlane, chairman and interim chief executive, took the first concrete step in his plan to shore up Aviva's balance sheet after the market closed on Thursday night. The group appointed Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs to handle the sale of as much as a third of its holding in Delta Lloyd, the benelux insurer. The 14 per cent stake Aviva plans to sell is valued at about €250m. Investment banks have already been appointed to handle the sale of some of the 16 businesses - out of a total of 58 - that Aviva identified on Thursday as non core, people with knowledge of the matter said. These account for less than a fifth of operating profit but £6bn of the £16bn capital employed by Aviva. Analysts said these almost certainly included the US life insurance business, bought six years ago for $2.9bn. The US was absent from a list of markets - including the much of the UK, Ireland, France and Canada - where Aviva deemed itself to be strong. Among the few operations Aviva explicitly identified as non-core on Thursday included the group's large-scale bulk purchase annuities business in the UK and smaller partnerships with Italian banks. Mr McFarlane said his meetings with shareholders in recent weeks had revealed "legitimate" gripes about the complexity and financial strength of the insurer, as well as its exposure to the eurozone. He also criticised previous restructuring efforts. One top ten shareholder welcomed the frank comments. "Recognising the probklem is the first step in sorting it out," the investor said. The previous regime was completely in denial. Aviva is looking to achieve £400m of annualised cost savings between the end of 2011 and the start of 2014. Shares in Aviva, which have fallen by more than a third in the last year, rose 3.29p to 284.69p.