Merrill Lynch’s sale of two life-insurance units to Dutch insurance and investment-products provider Aegon NV has closed, with the $1.25bn price tag $50m less than the two parties agreed to in August, reports the Wall Street Journal. The deal, which frees up more than $800m in capital for Merrill and follows a flurry of capital-raising deals last week, transfers Aegon Merrill Lynch Life Insurance and ML Life Insurance Co of New York to Aegon. The transaction includes excess surplus cash of $425m. The value of the sale was originally announced as $1.3bn. An Aegon spokeswoman said the difference reflected an “adjustable mechanism” in the agreement that accounted for changes in market conditions affecting the variable-annuity business.
