Aegon Exposure to World Com Debt May Be $200 Million

Holland’s Aegon NV admitted that it may be exposed to as much as $200 million in potential losses from the drop in value of the bonds it holds issued by WorldCom, Inc., the troubled international telecommunications company, whose debt issues were recently downgraded to “junk” by Moody’s Investors Service and Fitch Ratings.

Aegon indicated, however, that it had no present plans to make any special provisions concerning the drop in value of the investment. The rating agencies’ actions reduced some $30 billion of WorldCom debt to “junk” status, and triggered a call from lenders for WorldCom to put up some $5 billion in collateral to secure their loans.