British insurance buyout vehicle Resolution said that it would chase further acquisitions, as the takeover of Friends Provident made it swing to a half-year profit.

The world's leading insurers are jostling for topmost position in a consolidating market, and earlier Aviva rejected a 5 billion pound ($7.80 billion) bid approach from rival RSA for some of its core general insurance units.

Resolution said it was monitoring developments in the industry but declined to say if it was interested in any of the Aviva units or in the Paternoster insurance company

Resolution Chief Executive John Tiner told reporters on a conference call that their job is to follow very closely developments in the UK life insurance industry.

Resolution was founded by insurance entrepreneur Clive Cowdery in 2008 with the intention of buying and merging at least two more insurers or asset managers before selling the enlarged company in 2012.

The company said it would examine further acquisition opportunities in Britain and overseas, although Tiner said one of its key priorities would be integrating the AXA UK business.

Resolution's acquisition of Friends Provident helped the company post an operating profit before tax of 203 million pounds for the six months ending June, compared to a loss of 7 million a year earlier.

The company also proposed an interim dividend of 5.46 pence. Resolution shares rose 2.4 per cent to 252p in early trading.

Oriel Securities analyst Marcus Barnard said that they were a decent set of figures, with recovering profits at Friends Provident, and the dividend has a yield of 6.6%. However, he said the group continued to scour the insurance sector for deal opportunities.