Ageas

Ageas is an international insurance group offering both personal and business customers life and non-life insurance products.

Ageas operates in Europe and Asia across 14 countries, serving more than 40 million customers through a combination of wholly-owned subsidiaries and long term partnerships with financial institutions and distributors. Within Belgium, the company has 3m customers and gross inflows of €6.1bn and a net profit of €415m, and it is the leading life insurer. In the UK, the company has 4.8m customers, and covers 1.4m homes and 2.6m vehicles. In Continental Europe (France, Turkey and Portugal) Ageas has 4.7m customers, and a net profit of €118m. Finally, in Asia (China, Malaysia, Thailand, India, the Philippines and Vietnam), Ageas has a total of 34m customers though its joint venture partnerships. It also provides insurance services in Laos, Cambodia and Singapore through the support of its partners expansion plans.

In 2018 Ageas revealed its new three-year strategic plan, Connect21, which aims to help Ageas 'invest for the long-term whilst offering attractive short-term returns'. Connect21 consists of 6 financial targets, including a Non-Life combined ratio of 96%, and a commitment to launch each year a new share buyback of at least €150m, except in the case of a sizeable M&A. Strategically, the company also aims to renew and strengthen its partnerships and further connect with its customers by leveraging technology. It also plans to further focus on Europe and Asia, aiming to hold leading positions in each of its markets.

In August 2020, Ageas announced it had appointed Hans De Cuyper as its new CEO, as of Oct 22nd. Former CEO, Bart De Smet, will become Group Chairman.

In September it was revealed that Ageas had refused a takeover offer from BE Group. Whilst the company didn't share any financial details, the company stated it was 'not realistic and decided not to engage'.

In October 2020, Ageas revealed it was to sell its majority stake in Tesco Underwriting to its JV partner Tesco Bank for $104m. The deal is expected to close in Q2 next year, and will enable Ageas to focus on its core business, according to the company.