Voya plans to buy majority of Allianz's U.S. asset management business

(Reuters) - U.S. insurance plan provider Voya Financial Inc said on Tuesday its investment management unit would take over "a substantial majority" of Germany-based Allianz's asset management business in the United States.

The announcement comes after Allianz agreed to pay about $6 billion and its U.S. asset management unit agreed to plead guilty to fraud over the collapse of its multibillion dollar Structured Alpha funds amid market turmoil triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Voya said it has entered into a memorandum of understanding with Allianz Global Investors (Allianz GI), the asset management division of Allianz. Under terms of the proposed partnership, Allianz GI would get a stake of up to 24% in Voya's investment management business.

Voya said it is anticipating a purchase agreement to be finalized in the next few weeks.

After the deal, Voya's investment management unit will manage nearly $370 bln of assets, the company said. The planned acquisition will require no external financing or use of Voya's excess capital, it added.

(Reporting by Niket Nishant in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)