Dutch insurer Aegon is to combine its asset management subsidiaries into a single global unit by the end of the year as part of a three-pronged growth drive outlined today that aims to boost profits by nearly two-thirds by 2012.

Aegon said today in a statement its asset management businesses in the US, UK, the Netherlands and elsewhere around the world will be put together to form a single unit, Aegon Asset Management, that will be operational by January next year.