Austrian insurer Vienna Insurance Group (VIG) and the Hungarian state Holding CORVINUS have agreed on the details of their cooperation announced in December. Under the cooperation, CORVINUS is to acquire a 45% participation in the Hungarian VIG companies.

"The Hungarian VIG companies will be held through the Hungarian VIG holding company and two Dutch holding companies. CORVINUS will acquire a non-controlling minority interest of 45% in each of these three holding companies. The agreed purchase price for the three 45% participations in these holding companies amounts to about EUR 350 million", VIG announced in a statement.

The Dutch insurer Aegon said it "has taken note of the announcement issued today by Vienna Insurance Group AG Wiener Versicherung Gruppe (VIG) about the agreement reached between VIG and the Hungarian state holding Corvinus Nemzetkozi Befektetesi Zrt. (Corvinus) on the details of their cooperation which had been broadly defined in the Memorandum of Understanding dated December 23, 2021".

Thus, 98.64% of the shares of UNION VIG will be contributed to the Hungarian VIG holding company. The two Dutch Aegon holding companies hold 100% of the shares in the Hungarian Aegon companies (insurance, asset management, pension fund and service companies). VIG will retain a controlling majority interest of 55% in these three holding companies. In a next step, it is planned to merge the three holding companies whereby the Hungarian VIG holding company is designated as the remaining central steering unit.

The closing of the transaction is subject to the necessary regulatory and competition approvals as well as the closing of the transaction with AEGON.

It is worth to remember:

• On November 29, 2020, Aegon agreed to sell its insurance, pension, and asset management businesses in Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Turkey to VIG for EUR 830 million. Aegon will continue to work with VIG to close this transaction.
  
  On 6 April 2021, VIG received a decree from the Hungarian Ministry of the Interior blocking the planned acquisition of the Aegon companies in Hungary by a foreign company. VIG, jointly with Aegon, took legal action against this decision and filed a complaint with the Budapest Metropolitan Court on 5 May 2021.
  
  On 12 August 2021, the European Commission decided to grant competition clearance to the acquisition of the Aegon business in Central and Eastern Europe (Hungary, Poland and Romania) by Vienna Insurance Group AG Wiener Versicherung Gruppe (VIG), the Austrian group announced.
  
  On 20 September 2021, VIG has been informed that its complaint against the prohibitive FDI decision of the Hungarian Ministry of Interior, brought jointly with Aegon, in the context of the planned acquisition of Aegon's business in Hungary has been dismissed by the Budapest Metropolitan Court.
• On 23 December 2021, VIG and the Hungarian government have reached an agreement on the principles of a cooperation and the further course of action, which provides for a participation of 45% by the Hungarian state in the Hungarian AEGON companies and UNION VIG.

[s|hungary,groups]

[a|andrei.victor]