August 23, 2021: -Dutch insurer NN Group said on Thursday Goldman Sachs will buy NNIP, its asset management arm, for 1.7 billion euros ($1.98 billion) in the biggest acquisition by the American firm since David Solomon became chief executive in 2018.

The deal is part of the strategy to make the bank’s revenue stream less reliant on earnings from global markets and advising on contracts.

“This acquisition allows us to accelerate our growth strategy and broaden our asset management platform,” Solomon said.

NNIP, or NN Investment Partners, has $335 billion in assets under management, and the acquisition will make it twice the total that Goldman Sachs manages in Europe to over $600 billion.

David Knibbe, CEO of NN Group, told CNBC Thursday that the deal comes after a strategic review focused on accelerating growth.

“We all know that there’s fee pressure, there is scale – it is very, very important in this business, shift to passive is ongoing, and also our customers demand flexibility,” he told “Squawk Box Europe.”

“So that’s why we did a strategic review to see what’s in the long term the best set up for NNIP, and we are very pleased with the transaction we announced today.”

He added: “We believe it will broaden all the custom propositions that we offer to our customers.”

Goldman said NNIP’s 900 employees would join GS, and the Netherlands will become “a significant location” in its European business.

Additionally, the companies said that the two companies would enter a 10-year strategic partnership under which Goldman will provide asset management services to NN Group on an investment portfolio of $190 billion.

NN said the sale of NNIP would improve its Solvency II ratio by 17 percentage points, and extra capital would be used for acquisitions or additional returns to shareholders.

The Dutch firm’s asset management arm had also attracted interest from other insurers and asset managers, which include UBS, Germany’s DWS, and U.S. name Nuveen, Reuters reported in June.