The Hague, March 23, 2022 - Aegon announces today that it has
completed the divestment of its Hungarian businesses to Vienna
Insurance Group AG Wiener Versicherung Gruppe (VIG). The gross
proceeds of the transaction amount to EUR 620 million. This
completion is an important step towards the full closing of the
sale of Aegon’s insurance, pension, and asset management businesses
in Central and Eastern Europe to VIG for EUR 830 million, as
announced in November 2020. The sales of Aegon’s businesses in
Poland, Romania and Turkey are expected to be completed in the
course of 2022, subject to required local regulatory approvals.
“Today’s announcement marks an important step in the
transformation of Aegon as we narrow our strategic focus to select
core and growth markets, and further strengthen our balance sheet”,
said Lard Friese, CEO Aegon. “I would like to sincerely thank our
employees in Hungary for their significant contribution to Aegon
over the years.”
The closing of the sale of the Hungarian businesses will result
in a significant increase of Aegon’s Cash Capital at the Holding –
which amounted to EUR 1.3 billion at the end of 2021 – and brings
it above the stated operating range of EUR 0.5 billion to EUR 1.5
billion. This provides Aegon with the financial flexibility to
announce today a reduction of its debt through a EUR 375 million
tender offer, as well as the intention to return surplus cash
capital to its shareholders via a EUR 300 million share buyback,
barring unforeseen circumstances. These actions are in line with
the ambitions stated at the Capital Markets Day in December
2020.
“I am very pleased that by further reducing our debt, we are
able to deliver on our deleveraging goal well ahead of our 2023
target date”, Lard Friese added. “Today’s announced share buyback
also underscores our intention to return surplus cash capital to
shareholders.”
Debt tender offer and share buybackThe debt
repayment will be executed through a EUR 375 million tender offer
for six subordinated bonds. Details of the debt tender offer will
be disclosed via a separate press release today. After completion
of the tender offer, Aegon will have reduced its gross financial
leverage to the range of EUR 5.0 billion to EUR 5.5 billion, a
target that was set to be accomplished by 2023.
Additionally, Aegon intends to return EUR 300 million of surplus
cash capital to shareholders via a share buyback in the course of
2022. The share buyback will be executed in three tranches of EUR
100 million each, with each tranche conditional on maintaining the
capital positions of Aegon's main units in line with its stated
ambitions, and the Cash Capital at the Holding being above the
middle of the operating range.
The EUR 300 million share buyback program will commence on April
1, 2022 and is expected to be completed on or before December 15,
2022. The first tranche of EUR 100 million is expected to be
completed on or before June 30, 2022. For each tranche Aegon will
engage a third party to execute the buyback transactions on its
behalf. The common shares will be repurchased at a maximum of the
average of the daily volume-weighted average prices during the
repurchase period, and will subsequently be proposed to be
cancelled at Aegon’s 2023 Annual General Meeting of
Shareholders.
Following the divestment of Aegon’s businesses in Hungary,
Aegon’s IFRS equity will increase by approximately EUR 400 million
in the first quarter of 2022, of which approximately EUR 375
million will be recognized as a book gain, based on the balance
sheet position on December 31, 2021. The combination of the
completion of the sale of Aegon’s Hungarian businesses, the
repayment of the debt and the share buyback will not have a
material impact on the Group Solvency II ratio.
About Aegon
Aegon is an integrated, diversified, international financial
services group. The company offers investment, protection, and
retirement solutions, with a strategic focus on three core markets
(the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands), three
growth markets (Spain & Portugal, Brazil, and China), and one
global asset manager. Aegon's purpose of Helping people live their
best lives runs through all its activities. As a leading global
investor and employer, the company seeks to have a positive impact
by addressing critical environmental and societal issues, with a
focus on climate change and inclusion & diversity. Aegon is
headquartered in The Hague, the Netherlands, and listed on Euronext
Amsterdam and the New York Stock Exchange. More information can be
found at aegon.com.
Contacts |
|
Media
relations |
Investor
relations |
Dick
Schiethart |
Jan Willem
Weidema |
+31(0) 70 344
8821 |
+31(0) 70 344
8028 |
dick.schiethart@aegon.com |
janwillem.weidema@aegon.com |
|
|
Forward-looking statements
The statements contained in this document that are not
historical facts are forward-looking statements as defined in the
US Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The following
are words that identify such forward-looking statements: aim,
believe, estimate, target, intend, may, expect, anticipate,
predict, project, counting on, plan, continue, want, forecast,
goal, should, would, could, is confident, will, and similar
expressions as they relate to Aegon. These statements may contain
information about financial prospects, economic conditions and
trends and involve risks and uncertainties. In addition, any
statements that refer to sustainability, environmental and social
targets, commitments, goals, efforts and expectations and other
events or circumstances that are partially dependent on future
events are forward-looking statements. These statements are not
guarantees of future performance and involve risks, uncertainties
and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Aegon undertakes no
obligation, and expressly disclaims any duty, to publicly update or
revise any forward-looking statements. Readers are cautioned not to
place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which
merely reflect company expectations at the time of writing. Actual
results may differ materially and adversely from expectations
conveyed in forward-looking statements due to changes caused by
various risks and uncertainties. Such risks and uncertainties
include but are not limited to the following:
- Unexpected delays, difficulties, and expenses in executing
against our environmental, climate, diversity and inclusion or
other “ESG” targets, goals and commitments, and changes in laws or
regulations affecting us, such as changes in data privacy,
environmental, safety and health laws;
- Changes in general economic and/or governmental conditions,
particularly in the United States, the Netherlands and the United
Kingdom;
- Civil unrest, (geo-) political tensions, military action or
other instability in a country or geographic region;
- Changes in the performance of financial markets, including
emerging markets, such as with regard to:
- The frequency and severity of defaults by issuers in Aegon’s
fixed income investment portfolios;
- The effects of corporate bankruptcies and/or accounting
restatements on the financial markets and the resulting decline in
the value of equity and debt securities Aegon holds;
- The effects of declining creditworthiness of certain public
sector securities and the resulting decline in the value of
government exposure that Aegon holds;
- Changes in the performance of Aegon’s investment portfolio and
decline in ratings of Aegon’s counterparties;
- Lowering of one or more of Aegon’s debt ratings issued by
recognized rating organizations and the adverse impact such action
may have on Aegon’s ability to raise capital and on its liquidity
and financial condition;
- Lowering of one or more of insurer financial strength ratings
of Aegon’s insurance subsidiaries and the adverse impact such
action may have on the written premium, policy retention,
profitability and liquidity of its insurance subsidiaries;
- The effect of the European Union’s Solvency II requirements and
other regulations in other jurisdictions affecting the capital
Aegon is required to maintain;
- Changes affecting interest rate levels and continuing low or
rapidly changing interest rate levels;
- Changes affecting currency exchange rates, in particular the
EUR/USD and EUR/GBP exchange rates;
- Changes in the availability of, and costs associated with,
liquidity sources such as bank and capital markets funding, as well
as conditions in the credit markets in general such as changes in
borrower and counterparty creditworthiness;
- Increasing levels of competition in the United States, the
Netherlands, the United Kingdom and emerging markets;
- Catastrophic events, either manmade or by nature, including by
way of example acts of God, acts of terrorism, acts of war and
pandemics, could result in material losses and significantly
interrupt Aegon’s business;
- The frequency and severity of insured loss events;
- Changes affecting longevity, mortality, morbidity, persistence
and other factors that may impact the profitability of Aegon’s
insurance products;
- Aegon’s projected results are highly sensitive to complex
mathematical models of financial markets, mortality, longevity, and
other dynamic systems subject to shocks and unpredictable
volatility. Should assumptions to these models later prove
incorrect, or should errors in those models escape the controls in
place to detect them, future performance will vary from projected
results;
- Reinsurers to whom Aegon has ceded significant underwriting
risks may fail to meet their obligations;
- Changes in customer behavior and public opinion in general
related to, among other things, the type of products Aegon sells,
including legal, regulatory or commercial necessity to meet
changing customer expectations;
- Customer responsiveness to both new products and distribution
channels;
- As Aegon’s operations support complex transactions and are
highly dependent on the proper functioning of information
technology, operational risks such as system disruptions or
failures, security or data privacy breaches, cyberattacks, human
error, failure to safeguard personally identifiable information,
changes in operational practices or inadequate controls including
with respect to third parties with which we do business may disrupt
Aegon’s business, damage its reputation and adversely affect its
results of operations, financial condition and cash flows;
- The impact of acquisitions and divestitures, restructurings,
product withdrawals and other unusual items, including Aegon’s
ability to integrate acquisitions and to obtain the anticipated
results and synergies from acquisitions;
- Aegon’s failure to achieve anticipated levels of earnings or
operational efficiencies, as well as other management
initiatives related to cost savings, Cash Capital at Holding, gross
financial leverage and free cash flow;
- Changes in the policies of central banks and/or
governments;
- Litigation or regulatory action that could require Aegon to pay
significant damages or change the way Aegon does business;
- Competitive, legal, regulatory, or tax changes that affect
profitability, the distribution cost of or demand for Aegon’s
products;
- Consequences of an actual or potential break-up of the European
monetary union in whole or in part, or the exit of the United
Kingdom from the European Union and potential consequences if other
European Union countries leave the European Union;
- Changes in laws and regulations, particularly those affecting
Aegon’s operations’ ability to hire and retain key personnel,
taxation of Aegon companies, the products Aegon sells, and the
attractiveness of certain products to its consumers;
- Regulatory changes relating to the pensions, investment, and
insurance industries in the jurisdictions in which Aegon
operates;
- Standard setting initiatives of supranational standard setting
bodies such as the Financial Stability Board and the International
Association of Insurance Supervisors or changes to such standards
that may have an impact on regional (such as EU), national or US
federal or state level financial regulation or the application
thereof to Aegon, including the designation of Aegon by the
Financial Stability Board as a Global Systemically Important
Insurer (G-SII); and
- Changes in accounting regulations and policies or a change by
Aegon in applying such regulations and policies, voluntarily or
otherwise, which may affect Aegon’s reported results, shareholders’
equity or regulatory capital adequacy levels.
This document contains information that qualifies, or may
qualify, as inside information within the meaning of Article 7(1)
of the EU Market Abuse Regulation (596/2014). Further details of
potential risks and uncertainties affecting Aegon are described in
its filings with the Netherlands Authority for the Financial
Markets and the US Securities and Exchange Commission, including
the Annual Report. These forward-looking statements speak only as
of the date of this document. Except as required by any applicable
law or regulation, Aegon expressly disclaims any obligation or
undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to any
forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect any change
in Aegon’s expectations with regard thereto or any change in
events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is
based.
- 20220323 - PR - Aegon completes sale of Hungarian
businesses
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