THE HAGUE, The Netherlands, August 13 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- AEGON has completed a EUR 1 billion equity issue via an accelerated bookbuild. The issue was conducted under AEGON's USD Shelf Registration through the sale of a combination of new common shares and existing treasury shares. The issue comprised 157,822,000 new common shares and 32,654,191 treasury shares of AEGON N.V. with a nominal value of EUR 0.12. The shares were sold at a price of EUR 5.25 per Netherlands registered share and USD 7.50 per New York registered share.

Application has been made to list the new shares on respectively Euronext Amsterdam, the principal market for AEGON's common shares, and the New York Stock Exchange. The issue is expected to be settled on August 19, 2009 and the new shares are expected to be admitted to trading on respectively Euronext Amsterdam and the New York Stock Exchange as of that date.

AEGON intends to use the proceeds of the equity issue to repay up to EUR 1 billion of the total EUR 3 billion of core capital obtained last year from its largest shareholder, Vereniging AEGON, funded by the Dutch State. The decision to repay by December 1, 2009, is conditional on AEGON's capital position at the time of repayment and the outlook for the economy and financial markets not deteriorating materially. The repayment further requires the formal consent of the Dutch Central Bank (DNB).

J.P. Morgan acted as Sole Global Coordinator and Joint Bookrunner for the offering. ABN AMRO Bank N.V. (to be renamed The Royal Bank of Scotland N.V. in due course) and BofA Merrill Lynch acted as Joint Bookrunners. A prospectus for the offering may be obtained from J.P. Morgan Securities Ltd., 125 London Wall, London EC2Y 5AJ, United Kingdom. In addition, the prospectus may be obtained from AEGON's website, http://www.aegon.com.

Forward-looking statements

The statements contained in this press release 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, is confident, will, and similar expressions as they relate to our company. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict. In particular, there is no guarantee that we will actually use the proceeds from the offering to repurchase any of our convertible core capital securities. We undertake 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 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 our fixed income
      investment portfolios; and

    - 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 we hold;

    - The frequency and severity of insured loss events;

    - Changes affecting mortality, morbidity and other factors that may
      impact the profitability of our insurance products;

    - 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;

    - Increasing levels of competition in the United States, the Netherlands,
      the United Kingdom and emerging markets;

    - Changes in laws and regulations, particularly those affecting our
      operations, the products we sell, and the attractiveness of certain
      products jurisdictions in which we operate;

    - Acts of God, acts of terrorism, acts of war and pandemics;

    - Effects of deliberations of the European Commission regarding the aid
      we received from the Dutch State in December 2008;

    - Decisions taken by the Dutch Central Bank (DNB) regarding our ability
      to repay the convertible core capital securities we issued in December
      2008;

    - Changes in the policies of central banks and/or governments;

    - Litigation or regulatory action that could require us to pay
      significant damages or change the way we do business;

    - Customer responsiveness to both new products and distribution channels;

    - Competitive, legal, regulatory, or tax changes that affect the
      distribution cost of or demand for our products;

    - Our failure to achieve anticipated levels of earnings or operational
      efficiencies as well as other cost saving initiatives; and

    - The impact our adoption of the International Financial Reporting
      Standards may have on our reported financial results and financial
      condition.

Further details of potential risks and uncertainties affecting the company are described in the company's filings with Euronext Amsterdam and the US Securities and Exchange Commission, including the Annual Report on Form 20-F, as well as the prospectus supplement and accompanying prospectus for this offering. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this document. Except as required by any applicable law or regulation, the company 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 the company's expectations with regard thereto or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based.

    AEGON Group Corporate Communications & Investor Relations

    Media relations
    Greg Tucker
    +31-(0)70-344-8956
    E-mail: gcc-ir@aegon.com

    Investor relations
    Gerbrand Nijman
    +31-(0)70-344-8305 or 877-548-9668 - toll free USA only
    E-mail: ir@aegon.com

    Website: http://www.aegon.com

SOURCE AEGON N.V.