Banking and financial services company ING Group has sold 45 million shares in its insurance and investment management company NN Group for €1.1bn (£780m), as part of a restructuring agreement signed with the European Commission.
Following the sale, the Dutch bank has reduced its stake in NN Group to 42.4% from the existing 54.8%.
As part of the deal, NN Group will buy back shares worth €150m.
The transaction will see ING deconsolidate its stake in NN Group in line with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).
The sale of stake in NN Group is part of the terms set by the commission in lieu of a financial bail out in 2008.
The Dutch Government funded the bank with €10bn to repay its huge debt. Interest alone was estimated at €3bn.
The EC has restricted ING from any new acquisitions until it sold stake in NN Group.
The banking group agreed to offload more than 50% of the investment management company by 2015-end and complete stake in it by the end of 2016.
ING said the deconsolidation will enable the company achieve compliance with the EC commitment to bring its stake in NN Group below 50%.
The group has previously sold its insurance businesses in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Latin America and Asia.
Slated for completion on 29 May, the transaction will not impact ING Bank’s capital ratios and is estimated to have a negative impact on the €0.1bn profit and loss account of ING.
Executed by way of an accelerated book building offering to institutional investors and to NN Group, the deal will habe an estimated negative impact on shareholders’ equity by around €6.2bn.
The primary businesses of ING Group include retail banking, direct banking, commercial banking, investment banking, asset management, and insurance services.
Image: Headquarters of NN Group in Amsterdam. Photo: courtesy of Mig de Jong / Wikipedia