ING Group is buying pension administrator AZL for €65 million ($84.5 million) to strengthen the insurer's position in the growing Dutch fiduciary management market, said ING spokesman Nanne Bos.
"There is a trend in the Dutch market for pension plans to outsource, and we aim to benefit from this trend to fiduciary management," he said.
Under the deal, to be completed by the end of June, AZL will keep its name and take on ING's pension administration business, while ING will take over management of AZL's €2.5 billion in equity and real estate assets. AZL will remain responsible for managing €4 billion in fixed-income liability-driven investments for its existing clients, and AZL's remaining €1.5 billion in assets under management in specialty asset classes will stay with external money managers, said Martin Starren, AZL's director of investments. CEO Huub Dumont will remain CEO of the business, which will stay in Heerlen.
