AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Dutch insurer Aegon is looking at selling the life reinsurance arm of its Transamerica business in the United States, to focus instead on life insurance and pensions and asset management services, and said it would also slim down its UK operations.

The company said it would "explore strategic options" for Transamerica Reinsurance, which had a book value of 1.6 billion euros excluding excess capital at the end of December, and the move was independent of its plans for repaying the Dutch state aid it received during the global financial crisis.

Last year, Bermuda-based reinsurer PartnerRe bought smaller rival Paris Re in a $2 billion deal, while Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway, the world's third largest reinsurer, had amassed a three percent stake in Germany's Munich Re in January.

There was "limited strategic fit" between Transamerica Reinsurance and Aegon's main operations, Aegon said, reiterating its 2008 strategy of expanding in markets with higher growth and return potential, such as Asia and Latin America.

European and US insurers are keen to increase their exposure to Asia as robust economic growth fosters an emerging middle class with a strong appetite for financial services.

Most recently UK insurer Prudential tried to buy American International Group's AIA Asian life insurance unit but failed to get a price which might have been acceptable to its shareholders.

In 1999 Aegon became the third-largest US life insurer after Prudential Life Insurance Co. of America and Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. when it bought the Transamerica group for $9.7 billion.

Aegon ranks Transamerica Reinsurance as the third largest life reinsurer in the United States and seventh largest globally.