Aegon takes over Ankara Emeklilik, enters Turkish life insurance and pensions

Aegon, one of the world’s largest life insurance and pension groups, has entered into an agreement to acquire 100% of Ankara Emeklilik Anonim Åžirketi (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 mln, has a low life insurance penetration and the private pensions market has an attractive growth potential.

“We have consistently identified Turkey as a market where we believe we can leverage the broad capabilities in life insurance and pension products,” said Don Shepard, Aegon’s Chairman and CEO.

“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 in Central and Eastern Europe, where Aegon has operations in 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 EUR 35 mln in assets under management. It 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 Åžekerbank.
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 mln. 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 mln, up from EUR 46 mln in 2006.

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.