The primary function of the General Meeting of Shareholders is to decide matters such as the adoption of annual accounts, the approval of dividend payments and appointments to AEGON’s Executive and Supervisory Boards.
Our shareholders
AEGON’s common shares are mostly held by institutional shareholders such as pension or investment funds. These shareholders include Vereniging AEGON (external link), the company’s largest shareholder. Vereniging AEGON owns 9.9% of AEGON’s common shares.
To AEGON’s knowledge, only one other party holds a capital and voting interest in AEGON N.V. in excess of 5%. According to its filing with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission on February 10, 2011, US-based investment management firm Dodge & Cox owns over 160 million shares, representing more than 5% of the issued share capital and voting rights in the company.
Vereniging AEGON
Vereniging AEGON, AEGON’s largest shareholder, is an association which safeguards the interests of the company and its stakeholders. At the end of 2010, Vereniging AEGON held 22.8% of AEGON’s total voting capital, not including the additional voting rights on preference shares, all owned by Vereniging AEGON. However, the Vereniging has agreed voluntarily to waive these rights except in certain circumstances. These circumstances may include a hostile takeover bid for all or part of the company. Including the full voting rights on preference shares, Vereniging AEGON’s voting interest totaled 32.9% at the end of 2010.
At the end of 2010, Vereniging AEGON held a total of:
- 171,974,055 common shares
- 211,680,000 class A preferred shares and
- 69,030,000 class B preferred shares