Life insurance, pensions and asset management company Aegon is likely to sell its Edinburgh-based business as part of a restructuring that will see the group move its headquarters from the Netherlands to the US.

Lloyds, Phoenix and Royal London have been mentioned as potential buyers of Aegon UK which has been based in Scotland for more than 30 years.

Aegon acquired a 40% stake in Scottish Equitable in 1994 and purchased the remaining stake by 1998. It was initially based in Scottish Equitable’s St Andrew Square offices until moving to the Gyle on the western edge of Edinburgh.

A price tag of about £1.2 billion is expected to be put on the Scottish unit which is a big player in workplace pensions and administers £66.4bn of client assets.

Aegon has announced that it is switching its HQ to the US and will adopt the name of its biggest subsidiary, Transamerica, acquired in 1999 for $9.9 billion. At the time it was the largest foreign takeover by a Dutch company.

Aegon, which earns around 70% of its revenue in the US, said this summer that it was exploring a move across the Atlantic. Shareholders will vote on the proposal in the fourth quarter of 2026.

Meanwhile, it will initiate a “strategic review” of its UK operations and explore options for maximizing shareholder value, including a “possible divestment of the unit”. 

Its expansion in the US has led shareholders to question the logic of a Dutch holding company overseeing a much larger American subsidiary.

That debate accelerated after Lard Friese took over as chief executive in 2020. Friese has spent the past five years selling off major Aegon operations, including its Dutch division, and oversaw the company’s departure from its long-time base in The Hague to Schiphol airport.

Aegon sold its Dutch operations to ASR in 2023 for €4.9 billion and has been reducing the 29.99% stake in the company that it acquired as part of the deal.

The group still owns smaller subsidiaries in Spain, Portugal, China, France and Brazil, as well as Aegon Asset Management.

“Over the past five years, we have successfully transformed Aegon into a strong, focused, well-performing group,” Friese said. “Now, we are ready for the next frontier: to fully capture the opportunities in the largest life insurance market in the world: the US.”

Aegon’s share price has risen by around 130% since Friese took charge. After today’s announcement they fell 8%.

With Aegon’s departure, the Netherlands loses yet another well-known company headquarters, following earlier moves by Shell, Unilever and Relx, as well as the decision by DSM and AkzoNobel to adopt dual headquarters.

Aegon has set aside €350 million for the relocation which is due to complete by 1 January 2028. Under its new name, Transamerica will remain listed on both the New York Stock Exchange and the Amsterdam stock exchange.

Some 250 people currently work at Aegon’s Schiphol headquarters.