Aegon announces its acquisition of Fidem Life, the fifth largest life insurance
company in Ukraine, further strengthening Aegon's position in the developing Central and
Eastern European market. Aegon has been active in the region since 1992 and currently has
operations in Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania and Turkey.
Under the terms of the acquisition, Aegon will acquire 100% of Fidem Life from local
private equity company Horizon Capital. The transaction is expected to close in the first
quarter of 2013, pending regulatory approval. Fidem Life will be rebranded "Aegon Ukraine"
and will be integrated into the governance and management structure of Aegon CEE. The
initial focus of Aegon Ukraine will be to grow its life insurance operations, and further
develop its agency network.
Gabor Kepecs, CEO of Aegon CEE and a Member of Aegon's Management Board, said: "Given
the sizeable population and low penetration of life insurance in the country, Ukraine
offers Aegon an attractive long-term growth opportunity. Ukraine has a developing middle
class that will increasingly require the essential products and services we provide.
Consequently, we intend to fully leverage our broad capabilities as a leading provider of
life insurance across the Central and Eastern European region to provide quality and
reliable solutions to meet these emerging needs. Fidem Life's dedicated customer centric
business approach fits well with Aegon's strategy."
DISCLAIMER
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, 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 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 private sector securities
and the resulting decline in the value of sovereign exposure that Aegon holds;
- Changes in the performance of Aegon's investment portfolio and decline in
ratings of Aegon's counterparties;
- Consequences of a potential (partial) break-up of the euro;
- The frequency and severity of insured loss events;
- Changes affecting mortality, morbidity, persistence and other factors that may
impact the profitability of Aegon's insurance products;
- Reinsurers to whom Aegon has ceded significant underwriting risks may fail to
meet their obligations;
- 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;
- Changes in laws and regulations, particularly those affecting Aegon's
operations, ability to hire and retain key personnel, the products Aegon sells, and
the attractiveness of certain products to its consumers;
- Regulatory changes relating to the insurance industry in the jurisdictions in
which Aegon operates;
- Changes in customer behavior and public opinion in general related to, among
other things, the type of products also Aegon sells, including legal, regulatory or
commercial necessity to meet changing customer expectations;
- Acts of God, acts of terrorism, acts of war and pandemics;
- Changes in the policies of central banks and/or governments;
- 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 premium
writings, 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;
- Litigation or regulatory action that could require Aegon to pay significant
damages or change the way Aegon does business;
- As Aegon's operations support complex transactions and are highly dependent on
the proper functioning of information technology, a computer system failure or
security breach may disrupt Aegon's business, damage its reputation and adversely
affect its results of operations, financial condition and cash flows;
- Customer responsiveness to both new products and distribution channels;
- Competitive, legal, regulatory, or tax changes that affect profitability, the
distribution cost of or demand for Aegon's products;
- Changes in accounting regulations and policies may affect Aegon's reported
results and shareholder's equity;
- 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;
- Catastrophic events, either manmade or by nature, could result in material
losses and significantly interrupt Aegon's business; and
- Aegon's failure to achieve anticipated levels of earnings or operational
efficiencies as well as other cost saving initiatives.
Further details of potential risks and uncertainties affecting Aegon are described in
its filings with NYSE Euronext Amsterdam 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.
Media relations
Greg Tucker
+31(0)70-344-8956
[email protected]
Investor relations
Willem van den Berg
+31(0)70-344-8305
[email protected]
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