Dutch insurer Aegon said it may buy a small U.S. thrift company to qualify for potentially more than $1 billion in U.S. government support, sending its shares down more than 8 percent.
"This is part of our strategy to ensure Aegon has the strongest capital position possible," said Aegon spokesman Greg Tucker. "If Aegon is eligible, we would seek the minimum range of funding possible."
The range was 1 to 3 percent of its $125 billion in U.S. assets, he said, and the application was for the so-called Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) which the U.S. government has used to help banks hit by the credit crisis.
Aegon only filed an application for U.S. capital support to keep all its options open and there is no need to raise additional capital at the moment, Tucker todl CNBC.
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Shares in Aegon, which received 3 billion euros ($3.8 billion) in capital support from the Dutch government last month, fell as much as 8.5 percent and were down 6.6 percent at 3.23 euros. The DJ European insurance index was down 2 percent.
"I think Aegon has bigger problems than we realise. They have invested precisely there where the problems are: the United States," said asset manager Fred Huibers of Dutch Haags Effectenkantoor, which does not own Aegon shares.
