Aegon began a EUR 200 million share buyback on July 1, 2026, completing an EUR 227 million program at an average price of EUR 6.68 per common share earlier the same day, and on June 17 selected New York City as the location for the corporate headquarters the holding company intends to occupy once the redomicile from Bermuda to the United States completes by January 1, 2028. The redomicile, the dividend step-up to EUR 0.40 per common share for full-year 2025 (up 14% year over year), the Group solvency ratio of 184% at year-end 2025, and the US Risk-Based Capital (RBC) ratio of 424% together form the load-bearing support under the equity at a recent ADR close of $9.45 (52-week range $6.75 to $9.61, 24.5 million shares of recent daily volume on the NYSE).
The most recent print under review is the second half 2025 results filed February 19, 2026: net result of EUR 375 million in 2H 2025 (down from EUR 741 million in 2H 2024 on non-operating items and other charges), full-year 2025 net result of EUR 980 million (up 45% compared with 2024), and an operating result of EUR 1.7 billion for the year (up 15%). Operating capital generation, or OCG, before holding funding and operating expenses came in at EUR 1.3 billion for 2025, ahead of the EUR 1.2 billion target, and free cash flow of EUR 829 million matched the EUR 800 million target. The print is therefore a clean execution of the 2025 Capital Markets Day plan, with the buyback opening as the visible next step.
The one-sentence thesis is that Aegon is being re-priced as a US life insurance and retirement platform, with the EUR-denominated operating result, the EUR 1.3 billion annual OCG, and the EUR 0.40 dividend forming a European-style capital return story layered on top of a US-style Transamerica growth story (record 30% increase in individual new life sales in 2025, plus a 19% increase in WFG annuity gross deposits). We see the equity re-rating to a US peer valuation as the central case, conditional on the NY redomicile landing on schedule and on the strategic review of Aegon UK resolving in a way that does not destroy valuation equity per share.
The single load-bearing risk is execution of the US redomicile. The form F-4 registration statement and the US Shareholder Circular, the Proxy Statement and Prospectus for shareholders, are not yet effective, the EGM is contemplated for Q4 2026, and the Bermuda-to-Delaware or Bermuda-to-New York corporate migration requires regulatory approvals on both sides, including Solvency II equivalence treatment from the European Commission for the Bermuda regime. The falsifiable clock is the publication of the F-4 and the EGM vote in Q4 2026; if the redomicile slips past 2028, the re-rating thesis breaks and the equity returns to trading as a Bermuda-domiciled life insurer with a Bermuda holding-company discount.