Aviva's rejected offer, revealed on Wednesday night, was the third to be dismissed by Direct Line this year, with the company having snubbed two previous bids by the Belgian insurer Ageas that culminated in a £3.2bn offer in March.
Despite Aviva's insistence that the deal would bring attractive returns for the shareholders of both companies, Direct Line said the 250p-a-share bid - made up of cash and Aviva shares - was "highly opportunistic and substantially undervalued the company".
The board said it was backing Direct Line's executives, and declined to engage further with Aviva.
The move sent Direct Line's share price climbing to more than 224p yesterday, making it one of the biggest risers on the FTSE 250.
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