Aviva Chief Executive Mark Wilson has said the life and general insurer was interested in "bolt-on" acquisitions, after it bought rival UK life insurer Friends Life for 5.6 billion pounds ($7.9 billion) last year.

Canada is the group's second biggest general insurance market after the UK.

Around 575 RBC Insurance employees will become part of Aviva Canada's operations as a result of the acquisition of RBC General Insurance, Aviva said in a statement.

Aviva Canada has also entered a 15-year agreement with RBC Insurance which enables RBC Insurance customers to buy Aviva Canada's property and casualty (P&C) insurance products, Aviva added.

"This new partnership extends Aviva's presence in general insurance, brings additional diversification benefits to the group and presents excellent opportunities for revenue and earnings growth in the attractive Canadian market," Wilson said.

RBC said in a statement it will make an estimated net after-tax gain of C$200 million on the deal. Aviva said the deal would increase Aviva Canada's annual gross written premiums by around 20 percent.

Aviva posted first-half pre-tax operating profits of 1.17 billion pounds ($1.65 billion), including 131 million pounds from Canada.

Aviva's shares were up 2 percent at 459 pence at 1412 GMT.

(Reporting by Carolyn Cohn; editing by Simon Jessop and Elaine Hardcastle)

Stocks treated in this article : Royal Bank of Canada, Aviva plc