ROMANIA – Aegon is to take over the Romanian life insurance and pension portfolios of Eureko, the fully-owned subsidiary of Dutch insurer Achmea.

 The acquisition will turn Aegon Romania into the country's third largest pension provider, with around 650,000 pension fund members and responsibility for €120m of Eureko's pension business. Additionally, Aegon's life insurance portfolio will grow to be one of the 10 largest in the country.

Net assets of Romanian second and third pillar pension funds were worth €2.3bn at end-2012, according to the Romanian Pension Funds' Association.

Aegon has been active in Romania since 2007, and also has operations in Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Turkey. It is now entering the Ukrainian market by acquiring the fifth-largest life insurance company in the country.

Gábor Kepecs, CEO, Aegon Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and a member of Aegon's management board, said: "Given the increasing demand for life insurance and pension-related products and services in Romania and throughout the Central and Eastern European region, we are determined to extend Aegon's recognised expertise to serve the developing need."

He added: "The addition of Eureko's Romanian life insurance portfolio and pension fund business will significantly strengthen our position and ability to provide reliable long-term financial solutions for a growing customer base."

The sale of the business fits within the strategy Achmea announced in early 2012.

Gerard van Olphen, Achmea's vice-chairman and chief financial and risk officer explained that the sale of its business was the result of the development of its international business strategy.

"We intend to invest in companies that show considerable scale and opportunity for our core competences. We are confident that Aegon will continue to support the clients in Romania."

The transaction is expected to close in the second half of this year, pending regulatory approval.

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