Insurer Aegon sells the Dutch branch of the company to competitor ASR. In exchange, Aegon’s parent company will receive 2.5 billion euros and almost 30 percent of the shares of ASR, worth 2.4 billion.
This means that the insurer from Utrecht is growing by 40 percent and is suddenly the second largest in the Netherlands, it wrote FD already this morning. Only NN is bigger. The combined value of Aegon and ASR is approximately EUR 10 billion. “Combining the two companies is expected to lead to substantial cost and diversification benefits,” Aegon said in a press release.
Aegon is originally a Dutch company, but has virtually disappeared from our country due to the acquisition of ASR. However, the company will remain at its head office in The Hague and the insurer will not disappear from the Amsterdam stock exchange. ASR was founded in 2000 after a merger between, among others, Fortis, De Amersfoortse and Stad Rotterdam Verzekeringen. In the credit crisis, in 2008, the company was nationalized because Fortis ran into serious financial problems. Since 2016 it has been an independent listed company again.
Name changes to ASR
In the Netherlands, Aegon mainly sold non-life, life and health insurance and also had a bank and mortgage lenders with subsidiaries. The leading name for new insurance policies will be ASR. The subsidiaries such as Knab and TKP will keep their names.
The focus of Aegon’s parent company is abroad. It has major brands in the United States and the United Kingdom, among others. Part of the money from the acquisition of ASR will be invested there. A large part also goes to the shareholders and 700 million in debt will be repaid.
“Today’s announcement marks an important milestone in the history of our company and in our long-term ambition to build leadership positions in our chosen markets,” said Aegon CEO Lard Friese.
Free unlimited access to Showbytes? Which can!
Log in or create an account and don’t miss out on any of the stars.
#ASR #largest #insurer #fell #swoop #due #acquisition #Aegon