Close Close
Sign In
Newsletters
Popular Financial Topics Discover relevant content from across the suite of ALM legal publications From the Industry More content from ThinkAdvisor and select sponsors Investment Advisor Issue Gallery Read digital editions of Investment Advisor Magazine Tax Facts Get clear, current, and reliable answers to pressing tax questions
Luminaries Awards
Podcast Center Video Center Webcasts Resource Center Events
About ThinkAdvisor Contact Us Advertise With Us Asset & Logo Licensing Sitemap Terms of Service Privacy Policy Copyright © 2024 ALM Global, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
ThinkAdvisor

Life Health > Life Insurance

AEGON Agrees To Buy Merrill Lynch Life Companies

By Trevor Thomas

X
Your article was successfully shared with the contacts you provided.

AEGON N.V. has agreed to pay $1.3 billion in cash for Merrill Lynch Life Insurance Company and ML Life Insurance Company of New York.

AEGON, The Hague, Netherlands, says it expects to complete the deal by Dec. 31.

Merrill Lynch & Company Inc., New York, issues variable annuities through the 2 companies.

The deal is part of a larger agreement between the firms to team up in selling insurance and investment products. Merrill Lynch will continue to sell its Merrill Lynch Investor Choice Annuity product through its financial advisor network, while the companies AEGON is acquiring will continue to produce the annuities, AEGON says.

In addition, AEGON’s Transamerica subsidiaries will help Merrill Lynch advisors sell VAs.

“Merrill Lynch expects to record a significant gain on the sale during the fourth quarter of 2007,” AEGON says.

Merrill Lynch Life and ML Life generated about $800 million of variable annuity sales in 2006. They held about $10 billion in variable annuity assets at the end of 2006.

With the acquired firms, Aegon USA’s total VA assets would total over $40 billion, a company spokeswoman says.

In response to the deal, credit analyst Ovadiah Jacob of Standard and Poor’s said the purchased operations “will likely become a core component of AEGON USA’s strategy.”

AEGON says the deal will not affect its ability to complete its recently announced $1.3 billion share repurchase program.

NOT FOR REPRINT

© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.