VIG to sell €350m assets in Hungary to settle regulatory dispute

Vienna Insurance Group (VIG) will sell 45% of its current and pending assets in Hungary to a state-owned vehicle for €350 million to settle a regulatory scuffle between sides, the re/insurer said in a statement late Wednesday (February 16).

The deal should clear the way for VIG's long-sought purchase of Aegon assets throughout central Europe. That deal had been on ice amid Hungarian anti-monopoly grousing.

A Hungarian state holding will take 45% stakes in a VIG Hungarian holding into which VIG's current Hungarian assets will be poured, plus two Dutch units holding 100% of Aegon's Hungarian assets. Those units will later be consolidated into a single entity.

VIG will remain the sole holder of the 55% majority stake.

Terms complete a framework deal signed and announced in late December. The closing of the transaction is subject to the necessary regulatory and competition approvals as well as the closing of the transaction with Aegon.

VIG gave no hint of the governance structure for the new asset, said in December to be amongst the still-missing links in the deal.

VIG first signed a deal with Aegon in November 2020 to pick up the Dutch insurer's insurance, pension, asset management and service assets in Hungary, Poland, Romania and Turkey. Those assets were said to carry some €600 million in premium volume, €5 billion in managed pension assets and a 4.5 million total customer base.

Assets in Hungary were said to be of primary significance, with the Hungarian insurance operations said to have the #3 spot on the market and account for two thirds of the total acquired premium volume. The total acquisition was said to put VIG's Hungarian market share upwards of 20%.

The Hungarian Interior Ministry moved to deny regulatory approval in April 2021.

Did you get value from this story?  Sign up to our free daily newsletters and get stories like this sent straight to your inbox.