The European Commission approved NN Group's acquisition of Dutch pension products provider and insurer Delta Lloyd.
The commission said in a news release Monday it had found no objections to the takeover of sole control and a 79.9% stake in Delta Lloyd by NN Group, a Netherlands-based insurer and corporate pension plan provider.
“In the Dutch pensions market, the commission found that the new entity would continue to face competition from both other major insurance companies and from other pension providers. This is partly due to recent changes on the Dutch pensions market, which have increased competition by allowing a range of new actors to offer pension solutions,” the European Commission said in a news release.
NN Group managed €47 billion ($50 billion) of pension assets as of Dec. 31, which constituted a 20% share of the Dutch pension fund market, according to an NN spokesman. The business managed by Delta Lloyd had close to a 10% share of the market, he added.
After the acquisition, the Delta Lloyd brand will cease to exist and NN Group will take over all of the firm's existing defined contribution and defined benefit business, said the spokesman.
“Following integration, NN Group will merge the client base in the DC space and will manage the pensions through one platform to achieve scale,” he said.
The commission said it rejected a request from the Dutch Competition Authority to consult on the merger. “As the transaction does not give rise to any competition concerns, the legal grounds for referral are not met and the commission therefore rejected the referral request,” the release said.
