2nd UPDATE: Delta Lloyd CEO: IPO Through Existing Aviva Shares
August 06 2009 - 10:12AM
Dow Jones News
Delta Lloyd will use existing shares held by U.K. insurer Aviva
PLC (AV.LN) for its partial initial public offering on the
Amsterdam stock exchange, the Dutch financial company's chief
executive told Dow Jones Newswires on Thursday.
No new shares will initially be issued for the IPO, CEO Niek
Hoek said after Aviva and Delta Lloyd announced earlier in the day
that they planned a partial IPO sometime in the future, depending
on developments in the market.
"Aviva wants to cash in on Delta Lloyd's capital, and our
capital position of EUR4 billion is strong, so we don't need to
raise new capital with new shares," Hoek said, emphasizing that the
IPO was a joint decision by Aviva and Delta Lloyd's board.
Aviva holds 92% of Delta Lloyd. Aviva CEO Andrew Moss said Aviva
would like to retain a "residual majority" when it sells a stake in
Delta Lloyd. "I don't think there's any point in doing a minority
initial public offering that would, for example, be less than 25%
or 30%," he said.
Analysts said it is nearly impossible at this stage to estimate
how much Aviva might raise through a partial IPO, given that no
exact stake amount or time frame has been discussed. One analysts
said that, after a look at Delta Lloyd's earnings statement, the
current full value of the company could be estimated at about EUR4
billion or slightly less.
Hoek, meanwhile, said that his company has ambitions of becoming
the insurance market leader in the Netherlands and wants to become
a Top 5 player in the Belgian insurance market.
"We now have the No. 8 position in Belgium and still have a long
way to go to become a Top 5 player there," Hoek said.
Hoek said that Delta Lloyd is "considering all strategic
options" for its German operations after a news reports this week
citing insurance sources said that Aviva was looking to sell Delta
Lloyd's unit in that country.
In general, Delta Lloyd will focus on core markets in the
Netherlands and Belgium and will dispose minority positions in
other markets, Hoek said. "You need scale to compensate for basic
administrative and other costs and to be able to make money," he
said.
Delta Lloyd's CEO said that the IPO should help his company "to
remain independent in the Netherlands and Belgium, to help Delta
Lloyd to play an active role in the consolidation process, to have
access to capital markets and to better profile itself as market
leader."
He refrained to say when the IPO would take place. "But we have
thought about this thoroughly and decided to announce it now. Make
you own conclusions," he said.
Additionally, he pointed at the strong capital position of the
insurer and the solid way it has come through the economic crisis
so far. "Delta Lloyd was about first to say in March that the
crisis is bottoming out and that the first signs of recovery are
there," he said.
Delta Lloyd's CEO also didn't want to say how his company wants
to take a position in sector consolidation.
"Part of it is to be decided by the Dutch government, which has
nationalized and subsidized several players in the Dutch market.
For economic reasons, it would be good if the Dutch State would
bring those companies back to the market soon. We hope that the
current situation will not last too long, as it is disturbing
competition relations," he said.
"But it is good that the government has done what it did to
avoid severe financial damage for many people," Hoek added,
referring to the nationalization of ABN Amro and Fortis Netherlands
and financial support of ING (ING), Aegon (AEG) and SNS Reaal
(SR.AE).
"In the past, in the insurance market we have seen two main
sorts of consolidation: bigger companies merging with each other
and smaller companies being taken over. I think this trend will
continue," he said.
Hoek said that Delta Lloyd has succeeded in raising its market
share to 10% from 5% in the Dutch life and damage market in the
past 10 years and that his company has the ambition to raise it to
20% in the next 10 years.
He said that after an IPO, Delta Lloyd's strategy won't be ruled
by short-term shareholders interests. "We have been a strong and
solid insurance company for more than 200 years. We focus on
long-term returns and have for instance no risky investment banking
activities," Hoek said.
He said that Delta Lloyd also has no intention to become a
combined bankassurer. "For many years, we have used the
distribution retail banking network of ABN Amro to sell our
insurance products and that concept works well," he said.
He emphasized that, in the current insurance market, margins are
declining. "Customers demand more value for money. This means that
we have to lower our cost base and improve efficiency. We do this
by sharing IT and other sources for our different brands and
products."
Aviva said late Thursday that Morgan Stanley (MS) had been hired
to advise on the IPO. Delta Lloyd said that Goldman Sachs (GS) was
its "home banker" in response to reports that the bank had also
been hired.
- By Bart Koster; Dow Jones Newswires; +31 20 571 5201;
bart.koster@dowjones.com
(Vladimir Guevarra in London contributed to this report.)