AMSTERDAM_Aegon NV, the Dutch insurer, reported a euro161 million ($229 million) loss for the second quarter on Thursday due to impairment charges and announced plans to issue up to euro1 billion ($1.42 billion) in new shares.

In the same period a year earlier, the company had net profit of euro276 million. The 2009 loss included euro393 million in impairment charges, mostly on investments related to the U.S. housing market, and a euro353 million loss from the sale of the Taiwanese activities.

Stripping out those losses, operating earnings in the quarter would have been euro373 million ($528.54 million), the company said, versus euro644 million in earnings a year ago and better than a euro219 million loss in the first quarter of 2009.

It said it planned the share issue in order to repay part of the euro3 billion in bailout money it received from the Dutch state last year.

The company's CEO Alex Wynaendts said the company had "solid retail sales in the United States," where the bulk of its business is located.

Aegon said its solvency ratio _ the common measure of an insurance company's health _ increased to 202 percent from 170 percent at the end of the first quarter.

It said it would not pay an interim dividend in order to preserve capital.