highlights

January

• AEGON forms partnership with Japanese insurer Sony Life, focusing initially on variable annuities.

March

• AEGON completes acquisition of Clark Inc, further strengthening the Group's commercial reach in the United States.
• AEGON buys Dutch life insurer OPTAS N.V., further expanding its Group pension business in the Netherlands.

April

• AEGON completes acquisition of PTE Ergo Hestia, strengthening its pension fund management operations in Poland.
• Former Dutch government minister Karla Peijs joins AEGON's Supervisory Board along with retired Unilever chairman Antony Burgmans.

May

• AEGON says embedded value, a key measure of the Group's underlying worth, rose 8% in 2006 to just over EUR 21 billion.
• AEGON forms new distribution partnership with Barclays, one of the United Kingdom's leading high street banks.
• AEGON announces new asset management joint venture with China's Industrial Securities, underscoring the Group's commitment to the Chinese market.

June

• AEGON-CNOOC secures operating license for the Zhejiang province in eastern China. The joint venture now has businesses in provinces covering more than 200 million people.
• AEGON announces new life insurance and pension joint venture with leading Taiwanese financial services group Taishin.

July

• AEGON supports European Commission proposals for new solvency regulations, saying, if adopted, they will further strengthen Europe's insurance industry.

August

• AEGON announces a EUR 1 billion share repurchase program as part of its capital management strategy.
  At the same time, the Group increases interim dividend by 25% to EUR 0.30 a share.

september

• AEGON's joint venture in Romania gets green light to launch Vital, its new pension fund – just over four months ahead of the official introduction of the country's new retirement savings system.

October

• AEGON agrees a new seven-year sponsorship deal with Ajax, one of the best-known names in world soccer.

November

• AEGON announces that Alex Wynaendts, the Group's Chief Operating Officer, will take over as Executive Board chairman when Don Shepard retires in April 2008.
• AEGON raises its 2010 value of new business target by 14% to EUR 1.25 billion after better-than-expected performances from the Group's country units.

December

• AEGON finalizes agreement with Merrill Lynch, further widening the Group's distribution network in the United States. As part of the agreement, AEGON also buys Merril Lynch's two life insurance businesses.