ING selling stake valued at US$1.3 billion in insurer NN Group

[LONDON] ING Groep NV is selling a 1.2 billion-euro (US$1.3 billion) stake in insurer NN Group NV as it seeks to exit the company by the end of next year.

ING is selling 45 million shares of NN to institutional investors, decreasing its stake to 42.4 per cent after the transaction from 54.8 per cent, it said in a statement. The shares are being offered from 25.35 euros to the price of a share when the sale closes, and there is demand for all the stock on offer, according to an update on the deal seen by Bloomberg.

ING, which sold NN in an initial public offering last July, is among a host of shareholders paring their stakes in companies in Europe, where funds raised from share sales in the first quarter of 2015 outpaced the US and Asia combined, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Citigroup Inc in March sold its stake in Akbank TAS, Turkey's second-largest bank by market value after negotiating an early end to a lockup agreement.

NN Group has agreed to repurchase its ordinary shares from ING for 150 million euros as part of the deal, according to the statement from ING, the biggest Dutch financial-services company. Shares of NN have climbed 31 per cent since it joined the Amsterdam stock exchange.

Bank of America Corp, Goldman Sachs Group Inc, ING Bank NV and JPMorgan Chase & Co are managing the sale.

BLOOMBERG