Aegon to divest stake in partnership with Sony Life in Japan

“With the evolving market conditions, we mutually agreed that the future
of the variable annuity business in Japan is best served as a
wholly-owned part of our longstanding partner Sony Life”, said Alex
Wynaendts, CEO of Aegon. “I am confident that this change is in the best
interest of all stakeholders. This divestment allows Aegon to fully
focus on its most promising businesses in Asia serving the fastest
growing customer segments and offering the most significant
opportunities.”

The divestment is consistent with the company’s strategy to focus on
driving profitable sales growth and sustainably growing capital
generation. The divestment will not have a material impact on Aegon’s
capital position and is expected to lead to an IFRS gain of
approximately EUR 50 million, to be reported in “Other income” at time
of closing. Upon completion of the transaction, the cash proceeds will
be upstreamed to the group.

The details of the divestment are currently being finalized and will be
subject to normal regulatory approvals for transactions of this nature.
This is likely to be completed by the end of 2019. To facilitate the
transition, Aegon will continue to support the operations with certain
hedging, consulting and administrative activities during a transition
period. An update will be provided once the full transaction agreements
are signed.

Aegon will remain focused and committed to the fast-growing customer
segments in Asia. Core products in the region include universal life
insurance and protection products. Universal life insurance products are
primarily offered through the High Net Worth segment via Transamerica
Life Bermuda, which continues to expand geographically. Protection
products are sold via direct-to-consumer channels and digital
distribution platforms in the joint ventures, such as in China, where
Aegon is committed to a protection led strategy focused on critical
illness and whole life products enabling the joint venture to grow sales
in the last five years. Aegon also invests in digital distribution
platforms in other Asian markets to expand distribution capabilities.
Furthermore, the successful Chinese asset manager joint venture, Aegon
Industrial Fund Management Company, is a cornerstone of the growth
strategy of Aegon Asset Management.

About Aegon

Aegon’s roots go back 175 years – to the first half of the nineteenth
century. Since then, Aegon has grown into an international company, with
businesses in more than 20 countries in the Americas, Europe and Asia.
Today, Aegon is one of the world’s leading financial services
organizations, providing life insurance, pensions and asset management.
Aegon’s purpose is to help people achieve a lifetime of financial
security. More information on aegon.com.

Disclaimers

Forward-looking statements

The statements contained in this document 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, could, is confident, will, and
similar expressions as they relate to Aegon. These statements are not
guarantees of future performance and involve risks, uncertainties and
assumptions that are difficult to predict. Aegon undertakes 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 and/or governmental 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 Aegon’s fixed
income investment portfolios;

- 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 Aegon holds; and

- The effects of declining creditworthiness of certain public sector
securities and the resulting decline in the value of government exposure
that Aegon holds;

• Changes in the performance of Aegon’s investment portfolio and decline
  in ratings of Aegon’s counterparties;
• Consequences of an actual or potential break-up of the European
  monetary union in whole or in part;
• Consequences of the anticipated exit of the United Kingdom from the
  European Union and potential consequences of other European Union
  countries leaving the European Union;
• The frequency and severity of insured loss events;
• Changes affecting longevity, mortality, morbidity, persistence and
  other factors that may impact the profitability of Aegon’s insurance
  products;
• Reinsurers to whom Aegon has ceded significant underwriting risks may
  fail to meet their obligations;
• 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;
• Changes in the availability of, and costs associated with, liquidity
  sources such as bank and capital markets funding, as well as
  conditions in the credit markets in general such as changes in
  borrower and counterparty creditworthiness;
• Increasing levels of competition in the United States, the
  Netherlands, the United Kingdom and emerging markets;
• Changes in laws and regulations, particularly those affecting Aegon’s
  operations’ ability to hire and retain key personnel, taxation of
  Aegon companies, the products Aegon sells, and the attractiveness of
  certain products to its consumers;
• Regulatory changes relating to the pensions, investment, and insurance
  industries in the jurisdictions in which Aegon operates;
• Standard setting initiatives of supranational standard setting bodies
  such as the Financial Stability Board and the International
  Association of Insurance Supervisors or changes to such standards that
  may have an impact on regional (such as EU), national or US federal or
  state level financial regulation or the application thereof to Aegon,
  including the designation of Aegon by the Financial Stability Board as
  a Global Systemically Important Insurer (G-SII);
• Changes in customer behavior and public opinion in general related to,
  among other things, the type of products Aegon sells, including legal,
  regulatory or commercial necessity to meet changing customer
  expectations;
• Acts of God, acts of terrorism, acts of war and pandemics;
• Changes in the policies of central banks and/or governments;
• Lowering of one or more of Aegon’s debt ratings issued by recognized
  rating organizations and the adverse impact such action may have on
  Aegon’s ability to raise capital and on its liquidity and financial
  condition;
• Lowering of one or more of insurer financial strength ratings of
  Aegon’s insurance subsidiaries and the adverse impact such action may
  have on the premium writings, policy retention, profitability and
  liquidity of its insurance subsidiaries;
• The effect of the European Union’s Solvency II requirements and other
  regulations in other jurisdictions affecting the capital Aegon is
  required to maintain;
• Litigation or regulatory action that could require Aegon to pay
  significant damages or change the way Aegon does business;
• As Aegon’s operations support complex transactions and are highly
  dependent on the proper functioning of information technology,
  operational risks such as system disruptions or failures, security or
  data privacy breaches, cyberattacks, human error, failure to safeguard
  personally identifiable information, changes in operational practices
  or inadequate controls including with respect to third parties with
  which we do business may disrupt Aegon’s business, damage its
  reputation and adversely affect its results of operations, financial
  condition and cash flows;
• Customer responsiveness to both new products and distribution channels;
• Competitive, legal, regulatory, or tax changes that affect
  profitability, the distribution cost of or demand for Aegon’s products;
• Changes in accounting regulations and policies or a change by Aegon in
  applying such regulations and policies, voluntarily or otherwise,
  which may affect Aegon’s reported results, shareholders’ equity or
  regulatory capital adequacy levels;
• Aegon’s projected results are highly sensitive to complex mathematical
  models of financial markets, mortality, longevity, and other dynamic
  systems subject to shocks and unpredictable volatility. Should
  assumptions to these models later prove incorrect, or should errors in
  those models escape the controls in place to detect them, future
  performance will vary from projected results;
• The impact of acquisitions and divestitures, restructurings, product
  withdrawals and other unusual items, including Aegon’s ability to
  integrate acquisitions and to obtain the anticipated results and
  synergies from acquisitions;
• Catastrophic events, either manmade or by nature, could result in
  material losses and significantly interrupt Aegon’s business; and
• Aegon’s failure to achieve anticipated levels of earnings or
  operational efficiencies as well as other cost saving and excess cash
  and leverage ratio management initiatives.

Further details of potential risks and uncertainties affecting Aegon are
described in its filings with the Netherlands Authority for the
Financial Markets and the US Securities and Exchange Commission,
including the Annual Report. These forward-looking statements speak only
as of the date of this document. Except as required by any applicable
law or regulation, Aegon 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
Aegon’s expectations with regard thereto or any change in events,
conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based.

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