Tuesday, ING Groep N.V (ING), a financial services company, announced that it agreed to acquire voluntary pension fund Oyak Emeklilik in Turkey for 110 million euros. Oyak Emeklilik is the first and only voluntary pension fund in Turkey focusing on private pension fund management. Separately, ING said it completed the sale of its reinsurance unit to Columbia Insurance for 272 million euros to focus on core businesses.
The Dutch-based ING expects to finance the acquisition from existing internal resources and looks forward to close the deal in the second half of 2008. Through the acquisition, ING plans to expand its product offering and to widen its footprints.
As per the plan, ING will integrate Oyak Emeklilik in ING Insurance Central Europe and will rebrand under the ING brand within the first year after the closing. Commenting on the transaction, Tom Kliphuis, chief executive officer of Insurance Central Europe said, "Oyak Emeklilik has a strong management and its distribution is already well integrated in ING Bank Turkey. By further leveraging our life insurance and pension expertise with Oyak Emeklikik's strong distribution and knowledge of the market, we will rapidly build a leading position in the Turkish retirement savings marketplace."
In a separate announcement, ING Group announced the completion of sale of reinsurance unit Netherlandse Reassurantie Groep N.V to Columbia, a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK-A) The deal was first revealed on December 28, 2007. The sale is part of ING's strategy to focus on its core businesses in banking, investment, life insurance and retirement services.
By the sale of the reinsurance unit, ING expects a capital loss of 144 million euros after tax. On the transaction, ING will report a profit of 2 million euros in the second quarter. The proceeds of the sales will have a positive effect on ING's spare leverage of approximately 170 million euros.
ING finished Monday's regular trading session at $35.52, up $0.20 on a volume of 754 thousand shares.
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