VIG reaches agreement with Hungarian state holding Corvinus

The Hague, February 16, 2022 - Aegon has taken note of the announcement issued today by Vienna Insurance Group AG Wiener Versicherung Gruppe (VIG) about the agreement reached between VIG and the Hungarian state holding Corvinus Nemzetközi Befektetési Zrt. (Corvinus) on the details of their cooperation which had been broadly defined in the Memorandum of Understanding dated December 23, 2021. The announcement reads as follows:

“[…] Under the cooperation, Corvinus is to acquire a 45% participation in the Hungarian VIG companies.

The Hungarian VIG companies will be held through the Hungarian VIG holding company (VIG Magyarorszag Befektetesi Zrt.) and two Dutch holding companies (Aegon Hungary Holding B.V. and Aegon Hungary Holding II B.V.). Corvinus will acquire a non-controlling minority interest of 45% in each of these three holding companies. The agreed purchase price for the three 45% participations in these holding companies amounts to about EUR 350 million.

98.64% of the shares of UNION Vienna Insurance Group Biztosito Zrt. will be contributed to the Hungarian VIG holding company. The two Dutch Aegon holding companies hold 100% of the shares in the Hungarian Aegon companies (insurance, asset management, pension fund and service companies). VIG will retain a controlling majority interest of 55% in these three holding companies. In a next step, it is planned to merge the three holding companies whereby the Hungarian VIG holding company is designated as the remaining central steering unit.

The closing of the transaction is subject to the necessary regulatory and competition approvals as well as the closing of the transaction with Aegon.”

On November 29, 2020, Aegon agreed to sell its insurance, pension, and asset management businesses in Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Turkey to VIG for EUR 830 million. Aegon will continue to work with VIG to close this transaction, which is subject to local regulatory approvals.

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.

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 are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Aegon undertakes no obligation 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 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:

• Changes in general economic and/or governmental conditions, particularly in the United States, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom;
• 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; and
  • 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.

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.

Attachment

• 20220216 - PR - VIG reaches agreement with Hungarian state holding Corvinus

Source: Aegon N.V.