AEGON Completes EUR 1 Billion Equity Issue
August 13 2009 - 2:20PM
PR Newswire (US)
THE HAGUE, The Netherlands, August 13 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ --
AEGON has completed a EUR 1 billion equity issue via an accelerated
bookbuild. The issue was conducted under AEGON's USD Shelf
Registration through the sale of a combination of new common shares
and existing treasury shares. The issue comprised 157,822,000 new
common shares and 32,654,191 treasury shares of AEGON N.V. with a
nominal value of EUR 0.12. The shares were sold at a price of EUR
5.25 per Netherlands registered share and USD 7.50 per New York
registered share. Application has been made to list the new shares
on respectively Euronext Amsterdam, the principal market for
AEGON's common shares, and the New York Stock Exchange. The issue
is expected to be settled on August 19, 2009 and the new shares are
expected to be admitted to trading on respectively Euronext
Amsterdam and the New York Stock Exchange as of that date. AEGON
intends to use the proceeds of the equity issue to repay up to EUR
1 billion of the total EUR 3 billion of core capital obtained last
year from its largest shareholder, Vereniging AEGON, funded by the
Dutch State. The decision to repay by December 1, 2009, is
conditional on AEGON's capital position at the time of repayment
and the outlook for the economy and financial markets not
deteriorating materially. The repayment further requires the formal
consent of the Dutch Central Bank (DNB). J.P. Morgan acted as Sole
Global Coordinator and Joint Bookrunner for the offering. ABN AMRO
Bank N.V. (to be renamed The Royal Bank of Scotland N.V. in due
course) and BofA Merrill Lynch acted as Joint Bookrunners. A
prospectus for the offering may be obtained from J.P. Morgan
Securities Ltd., 125 London Wall, London EC2Y 5AJ, United Kingdom.
In addition, the prospectus may be obtained from AEGON's website,
http://www.aegon.com/. Forward-looking statements The statements
contained in this press release that are not historical facts are
forward-looking statements as defined in the US Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The following are words that
identify such forward-looking statements: aim, believe, estimate,
target, intend, may, expect, anticipate, predict, project, counting
on, plan, continue, want, forecast, goal, should, would, is
confident, will, and similar expressions as they relate to our
company. These statements are not guarantees of future performance
and involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult
to predict. In particular, there is no guarantee that we will
actually use the proceeds from the offering to repurchase any of
our convertible core capital securities. We undertake no obligation
to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements.
Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these
forward-looking statements, which merely reflect company
expectations at the time of writing. Actual results may differ
materially from expectations conveyed in forward-looking statements
due to changes caused by various risks and uncertainties. Such
risks and uncertainties include but are not limited to the
following: - Changes in general economic conditions, particularly
in the United States, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom; -
Changes in the performance of financial markets, including emerging
markets, such as with regard to: - The frequency and severity of
defaults by issuers in our fixed income investment portfolios; and
- The effects of corporate bankruptcies and/or accounting
restatements on the financial markets and the resulting decline in
the value of equity and debt securities we hold; - The frequency
and severity of insured loss events; - Changes affecting mortality,
morbidity and other factors that may impact the profitability of
our insurance products; - Changes affecting interest rate levels
and continuing low or rapidly changing interest rate levels; -
Changes affecting currency exchange rates, in particular the
EUR/USD and EUR/GBP exchange rates; - Increasing levels of
competition in the United States, the Netherlands, the United
Kingdom and emerging markets; - Changes in laws and regulations,
particularly those affecting our operations, the products we sell,
and the attractiveness of certain products jurisdictions in which
we operate; - Acts of God, acts of terrorism, acts of war and
pandemics; - Effects of deliberations of the European Commission
regarding the aid we received from the Dutch State in December
2008; - Decisions taken by the Dutch Central Bank (DNB) regarding
our ability to repay the convertible core capital securities we
issued in December 2008; - Changes in the policies of central banks
and/or governments; - Litigation or regulatory action that could
require us to pay significant damages or change the way we do
business; - Customer responsiveness to both new products and
distribution channels; - Competitive, legal, regulatory, or tax
changes that affect the distribution cost of or demand for our
products; - Our failure to achieve anticipated levels of earnings
or operational efficiencies as well as other cost saving
initiatives; and - The impact our adoption of the International
Financial Reporting Standards may have on our reported financial
results and financial condition. Further details of potential risks
and uncertainties affecting the company are described in the
company's filings with Euronext Amsterdam and the US Securities and
Exchange Commission, including the Annual Report on Form 20-F, as
well as the prospectus supplement and accompanying prospectus for
this offering. These forward-looking statements speak only as of
the date of this document. Except as required by any applicable law
or regulation, the company expressly disclaims any obligation or
undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to any
forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect any change
in the company's expectations with regard thereto or any change in
events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is
based. AEGON Group Corporate Communications & Investor
Relations Media relations Greg Tucker +31-(0)70-344-8956 E-mail:
Investor relations Gerbrand Nijman +31-(0)70-344-8305 or
877-548-9668 - toll free USA only E-mail: Website:
http://www.aegon.com/ DATASOURCE: AEGON N.V. CONTACT: AEGON Group
Corporate Communications & Investor Relations: Media relations,
Greg Tucker, +31-(0)70-344-8956, E-mail: . Investor relations:
Gerbrand Nijman, +31-(0)70-344-8305 or 877-548-9668 - toll free USA
only, E-mail:
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