VIG's planned acquisition of the Aegon business in Central and Eastern Europe (Hungary, Poland and Romania) is still hamperd by the negative ruling Hungarian Ministry of Interior, as legal actions taken by the two companies have been not yet successful.

Vienna Insurance Group (VIG) has been informed on 20 September 2021 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 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.

"We regret this interim procedural step and will appeal against the decision of the Budapest Metropolitan Court to the Hungarian Supreme Court within the next 30 days. Irrespective of this, we are continuing the constructive dialogue with the Ministry of Finance to clarify possibilities for a positive conclusion of the acquisition," comments CEO Elisabeth Stadler.

Hungarian authorities' decision is rather intriguing considering that on 12 August 2021, the European Commission decided to grant competition clearance to the acquisition operation. For the fourth target of the acquisition deal, the Turkish unit of Aegon, the approval of the local competition authority has already been obtained.