AEGON to Enter Turkish Life Insurance and Pension Market With Acquisition of Ankara Emeklilik
27 February 2008 - 4:00AM
PR Newswire (US)
THE HAGUE, The Netherlands, February 26 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ --
AEGON has entered into an agreement to acquire 100% of Ankara
Emeklilik Anonim Sirketi (Ankara Emeklilik), a Turkish life
insurance and pension provider, from Polis Bakim ve Yardim Sandigi.
The move is AEGON's first step in the fast-growing Turkish life
insurance and pension market. The transaction is subject to
regulatory approval in Turkey, and is expected to close in the
first half of 2008. Turkey offers attractive long-term growth
prospects for AEGON. The country, with its population of 74
million, has a low life insurance penetration and the private
pensions market has an attractive growth potential. Don Shepard,
AEGON's Chairman and CEO, said: "We have consistently identified
Turkey as a market where we believe we can leverage AEGON's broad
capabilities in life insurance and pension products. This
acquisition provides AEGON an ideal platform to pursue growth in
this increasingly important market. We will rely on the strong
expertise that we have developed in the broader Central and Eastern
European region to serve customers in Turkey with innovative and
need-specific products and services." The acquisition of Ankara
Emeklilik will complement the recent expansion of AEGON's business
in Central and Eastern Europe, where AEGON has operations in five
countries: Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and
Romania. Ankara Emeklilik has a well-established presence in the
Turkish life insurance and private pension market, with over 54,000
pension fund members and approximately EUR 35 million in assets
under management*. Ankara Emeklilik sells its products and services
through a variety of different channels and has an agreement in
place to distribute through a nationwide network of 236 branches
belonging to Sekerbank. As part of its overall growth strategy,
AEGON is aiming to further expand its businesses in Central and
Eastern Europe over the coming years. AEGON expects to more than
double its number of pension fund members in Central and Eastern
Europe by 2010 to 2.5 million. Value of New Business from Central
and Easter Europe - a key measure of the Group's future
profitability - is expected to rise over the same period to EUR 100
million, up from EUR 46 million in 2006. * Source: Pension
Monitoring Center - February 18, 2008 About AEGON AEGON is one of
the world's largest life insurance and pension groups, and a strong
provider of investment products. AEGON empowers local business
units to identify and provide products and services that meet the
evolving needs of customers, using distribution channels best
suited to local markets. AEGON takes pride in balancing a local
approach with the power of an expanding global operation. With
headquarters in The Hague, the Netherlands, AEGON companies employ
approximately 30,000 people worldwide. AEGON's businesses serve
millions of customers in over twenty markets throughout the
Americas, Europe, and Asia, with major operations in the United
States, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Respect, quality,
transparency and trust constitute AEGON's core values as the
company continually strives to meet the expectations of customers,
shareholders, employees and business partners. AEGON is driven to
deliver new thinking with the ambition to be the best in the
industry. Forward Looking Statements The statements contained in
this press release 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: believe, estimate,
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on, plan, continue, want, forecast, should, would, is confident,
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risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict.
We undertake 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
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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 our fixed income investment
portfolios; and - 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 we hold; - The
frequency and severity of insured loss events; - Changes affecting
mortality, morbidity and other factors that may impact the
profitability of our insurance products; - 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; - Increasing
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changes that affect the distribution cost of or demand for our
products; - Our failure to achieve anticipated levels of earnings
or operational efficiencies as well as other cost saving
initiatives; and - The impact our adoption of the International
Financial Reporting Standards may have on our reported financial
results and financial condition. Contact Information Group
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