Major Dutch insurer NN Group NV on Wednesday said it had bought a majority 79.9 percent stake in rival Delta Lloyd NV to create one of the largest insurance groups in the Netherlands and Belgium.
“NN Group and Delta Lloyd jointly announce that NN Group has ... acquired 79.9 percent of the shares,” NN Group said in a statement.
The Hague-based group, which listed on the Amsterdam stock exchange in one of 2014’s biggest initial public offerings, in early February said it made an all-cash public offer for all outstanding shares in Delta Lloyd.
PREVIOUS OFFER
At the time NN offered 5.40 euros per ordinary share, representing a total of 2.5 billion euros (US$2.66 billion).
It did not immediately give an amount for the majority share purchase.
NN Group and Delta Lloyd will now “align and integrate their operations in the Netherlands and Belgium,” NN said.
“This will result in an overall stronger platform from which to provide enhanced customer propositions and generate shareholder return,” it added in a joint statement with Delta Lloyd.
Top Dutch bank ING last year completed the sale of its stake in its former insurance arm, NN Group, a deal which netted the bank 506 million euros.
FOOTHOLD
Today NN Group is active in 18 countries, mainly in Europe and Japan, and employs about 11,500 people to serve more than 15 million customers.
Delta Lloyd has 4,019 employees in the Netherlands and Belgium. Listed both in Amsterdam and Brussels it manages shareholders’ funds worth 3.7 billion euros and investments worth 71 billion euros.
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