By Toby Sterling
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) -Dutch insurer NN Group said on Thursday Goldman Sachs will buy NNIP, its asset management arm, for 1.7 billion euros ($1.98 billion) in the biggest acquisition by the American firm since David Solomon became chief executive in 2018.
The deal is part of Solomon’s strategy to make the bank’s revenue stream less reliant on earnings from global markets and advising on deals.
“This acquisition allows us to accelerate our growth strategy and broaden our asset management platform,” Solomon said in a statement.
NNIP, or NN Investment Partners, has $335 billion in assets under management, and the acquisition will double the total that Goldman Sachs manages in Europe to more than $600 billion.
Goldman said NNIP’s 900 employees will join GS and the Netherlands will become “a significant location” in its European business.
Additionally, the two companies will enter a 10-year strategic partnership under which Goldman will provide asset management services to NN Group on an investment portfolio of $190 billion, the companies said.
“The combined investment expertise and scale will enhance the service offering to NN Investment Partners’ clients, including NN Group,” said NN CEO David Knibbe.
NN said the sale of NNIP will improve its Solvency II ratio by 17 percentage points and extra capital would be used for acquisitions or additional returns to shareholders.
The Dutch firm’s asset management arm had also attracted interest from other insurers and asset managers, including UBS, Germany’s DWS and U.S. name Nuveen, Reuters reported in June. [nL5N2NT2I1]
($1 = 0.8565 euros)
(Reporting by Toby Sterling, Rachel Armstrong and Pam Barbaglia; Editing by Ana Nicolaci da Costa)
