ING Groep NV Message Board

"ING's Divesting Strategy Will Lead to a Higher Stock Price
by: Dutch Trader June 23, 2011 | about: ING



ING is a Dutch global financial institution offering banking, investments, life insurance and retirement services. As of 31 March 2011, ING had a diverse workforce of about 105,000 people and served more than 85 million private, corporate and institutional clients in more than 40 countries.
On June 16 ING announced that it has reached an agreement to sell ING Direct USA for a total consideration of USD 9.0 billion (EUR 6.3 billion at current exchange rates) to Capital One Financial Corporation (COF), a leading U.S.-based financial holding company. Under the terms of the agreement, ING will receive USD 6.2 billion in cash and USD 2.8 billion in the form of 55.9 million shares in Capital One.
The divestment is part of ING's restructuring plan, filed with the European Commission in 2009 to obtain approval for the support ING received from the Dutch State in the context of the financial crisis.
After this transaction, ING will focus on further building its ING Direct operations in Canada, Spain, Australia, France, Italy, Germany, the United Kingdom and Austria.
On June 20 Het Financieele Dagblad reported that ING is looking to sell its car leasing unit in a bid to free up more capital. ING Car Lease has a fleet of around 360,000 cars making it one of the biggest players in Europe. A transaction could total EUR4 billion, as a buyer would have to take over EUR3 billion in debt and bolster the unit's capital buffer by around EUR750 million. The newspaper said potential buyers could be the car-leasing units of BMW AG, Volkswagen AG and GE Fleet Services. Other bidders may be Arval UK Ltd. and Athlon Car Lease, a unit of Dutch Rabobank Group. It seems that ING is going back to basics.
Many divestments have taken place in the last number of years.
February 19, 2009 ING Canada EUR1400 million
September 25, 2009 Insurance business Australia, New Zealand EUR1100 million
October 7, 2009 Private Banking Switzerland, EUR300 million
October 15, 2009 Private Banking Asia, EUR1 billion
October 16, 2009 Reinsurance U.S., not available
November 3, 2009 Selling of three U.S. broker dealers, not available
August 27, 2010 0%-stake in ING Summit Industrial Fund, EUR1.5 billion
December 8, 2010 5%-stake Fuban Financial, EUR395 million
February 15, 2011 Real estate manager REIM, EUR810 million