Aegon Shares Drop as Dutch Insurer Targets 'Leading' US Position with Planned Relocation

04:23 AM EST, 12/10/2025 (MT Newswires) -- Aegon's (AGN.AS) shares fell over 8% during midday trading on Wednesday after announcing its intention to move its head office and legal seat to the US, as the Dutch financial services company aims to become a "leading US life insurance and retirement group." The transfer, which is expected to be finalized by Jan. 1, 2028, is subject to shareholder approval during an extraordinary general meeting scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2026. Aegon anticipates a one-time implementation expense of 350 million euros from the latter half of 2026 through the first half of 2028. As part of the relocation, Aegon will change its name to Transamerica Inc. while retaining its Euronext and New York Stock Exchange listings. The group plans to start reporting under US GAAP for the first time with its full-year 2027 earnings. "Over the past five years, we have successfully transformed Aegon into a strong, focused, well-performing group. Now, we are ready for the next frontier: to fully capture the opportunities in the largest life insurance market in the world: the US. With Transamerica, which now represents around 70% of our operations, we are strongly positioned to serve a large and underserved segment: Main Street American families and medium-sized companies," Chief Executive Officer Lard Friese said. For its asset management business, Aegon seeks to improve its efficiency and raise its third-party revenue to surpass assets under management growth. The listed company also intends to continue investing in the "profitable growth" of its international businesses in Spain, Portugal, Brazil and China. Meanwhile, in the UK, Aegon will initiate a strategic review and explore options for maximizing shareholder value, including a possible divestment of the unit. The Dutch insurer also intends to reinsure a block of Secondary Guarantee Universal Life, or SGUL, contracts with a net face value of $10 billion. The move covers 30% of Transamerica's SGUL business and will reduce capital employed by $300 million to $2.7 billion ahead of its 2025 reduction target. After achieving its financial goals for 2025, Aegon expects its operating result to increase by 5% annually between 2025 and 2027 from 1.5 billion euros to 1.7 billion euros, supported by the growth of its US assets. Aegon also anticipates dividends will grow "in excess" of 5% on a yearly basis from the 0.40 euro per share in 2025. Amid the announcement of new targets, Aegon said it will retain its capital management approach and unveiled a new 400 million-euro share buyback program for 2026. In a research report published ahead of Aegon's capital markets day event, Berenberg expected the company's new strategic direction to focus on its core US market. The research firm said, "We believe that growth in new business, in operating earnings and in operating capital generation will be key to Aegon's success because growth is the metric which will allow Aegon to stand out relative to its peers, and in particular relative to its US peers. We believe that by targeting (and also then delivering) higher growth, Aegon should be able to justify a higher valuation multiple than its US peers."