By Cathy Chan and Ambereen Choudhury
Aug. 26 (Bloomberg) -- ING Groep NV, the biggest Dutch financial-services company, has asked for final bids for its private banking operations and is seeking about $1.8 billion, two people familiar with the matter said.
The Amsterdam-based bank has selected companies to enter final bidding as early as Sept. 1, one of the people said. ING expects its Asian private banking operations to contribute about 70 percent of the proceeds, the person said.
ING, which received a 10 billion euro ($14.3 billion) lifeline in October from the Netherlands, is seeking to raise as much as 8 billion euros selling assets to boost capital. The sale of private banking assets in Asia, home to the world’s two fastest-growing major economies, may attract buyers seeking to expand their wealth-management operations in the region.
Raymond Vermeulen, an Amsterdam-based spokesman for ING, declined to comment. Marie Cheung, a Hong Kong-based spokeswoman for JPMorgan Chase & Co., which is advising ING, also declined to comment.
ING’s second-quarter profit fell 96 percent, more than analysts estimated, as it set aside money for risky loans and reduced the value of its real-estate holdings. Chief Executive Officer Jan Hommen, who took over in January, this month said the company would cut 8,219 jobs, more than previously planned, and reduce costs.
The firm raised 1.4 billion euros in February by selling its 70 percent stake in ING Canada Inc., that country’s largest property and casualty insurer. The company agreed to sell its annuity and mortgage businesses in Chile to Corp Group Vida Chile SA last month. Corpvida will pay about $350 million for the assets, Santiago-based newspaper Diario Financiero said.
To contact the reporters on this story: Cathy Chan in Hong Kong at kchan14@bloomberg.net; Ambereen Choudhury in London at achoudhury@bloomberg.net
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