Retirement and workplace savings organisation Aegon has entered into an agreement to acquire BlackRock’s UK defined contribution (DC) platform and administration business.
The transaction will see Aegon acquire around 350,000 customers and £12bn of assets, bringing its workplace savings business to approximately £30bn worth of assets under management.
Paul Bucksey, head of DC at BlackRock, will serve as managing director of the combined business, which aims to bring together the expertise of both Aegon and BlackRock to offer DC services to a variety of schemes. This will include workplace savings vehicles such as individual savings accounts (Isas) and self-invested personal pensions (Sipps).
Under the agreement, BlackRock will remain as the primary investment manager for clients that transfer to Aegon.
Aegon will retain specialist employees and systems from BlackRock, and will continue to provide support from the existing Peterborough-based service centre.
Adrian Grace (pictured), chief executive officer at Aegon UK, said: “With employers demanding additional solutions to meet employees' needs to and through retirement, workplace savings are no longer just about traditional DC pensions. This makes it an exciting market and with an expectation it will triple in size over the next 10 years, we are well positioned to take advantage.”
David Blumer, head of BlackRock, Europe, Middle East and Africa, added: “The pensions and investment landscape has changed significantly in the UK over the last few years. BlackRock believes Aegon’s broad retail product and digital capabilities will best serve the increased demand from employers for holistic retirement solutions in the future, and are a perfect partner to deliver on our DC platform and administration clients’ growing needs.”
