Aviva closes offices in three UK towns after Friends Life merger

LONDON (Reuters) - Insurer Aviva is closing offices in three British towns and cutting its presence in others, following its acquisition of rival Friends Life, it said on Monday. "Over the next 18 months we will be closing offices in Salisbury, Stretford and Salford," an Aviva spokesperson said. "There will be a reduced presence in Dorking, but it will remain a specialist site for our corporate pensions business. We will also have a reduced presence in Exeter and Manchester city centre." The cuts will take place by the end of next year, the spokesperson added. Aviva has previously said it was planning 225 million pounds ($349.34 million) of annual cost savings by end-2017 and the reduction of 1,500 jobs, following the 5.6 billion pound purchase of Friends Life, which completed earlier this year. The firm said last month it was shutting Friends Life's London head office. (Reporting by Carolyn Cohn; Editing by Nishant Kumar)