AEGON Agrees To Acquire Canadian Financial Planning Franchise Company

By Staff Writer

July 16, 2001 at 08:00 PM

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NU Online News Service, July 16, 7:15 p.m. – AEGON N.V., The Hague, The Netherlands, has agreed to expand distribution network in Canada by acquiring National Financial Corp., Toronto, the parent company of Money Concepts (Canada) Ltd., through a stock purchase.

The value of the deal was not announced, but AEGON says it hopes to complete the acquisition by Aug. 31.

Money Concepts bills itself as the largest franchised financial planning company in Canada. It and its franchise holders have 97 offices, 348 representatives, 71,000 clients and the equivalent of U.S. $1.6 billion in assets under management.

Money Concepts also owns Money Concepts Group Capital Corp., a registered mutual fund dealer, and National Financial Insurance Agency Inc., a national managing general agency.

The Sylvester family started the company in 1984, by acquiring the Canadian rights to the concept from Money Concepts International Inc., Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.

The current owners are the Sylvester family, First International Asset Management Inc. and Money Concepts Franchisee Holdco Inc..

AEGON operates in Canada through AEGON Canada, Toronto, under the Transamerica Life Canada name. AEGON Canada has 18,000 independent producers and its own network of managing general agencies, national account offices and company offices.

AEGON plans to combine some of Money Concepts' back-office support operations with its own but use the Money Concepts planning offices to increase its mutual fund sales, AEGON says.

AEGON would also like to use Money Concepts' services to help its own independent producers sell more mutual funds.

All of Money Concepts' senior executives have agreed to stay with the company after the acquisition is consummated, AEGON says.

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