CVC, MBK among final bidders for ING Korea unit - report

According to the Wall Street Journal, potential buyers - which also include Korean companies Hanwha Life Insurance, Kyobo Life Insurance and Tongyang Life Insurance - are currently holding meetings with ING's management as part of the due diligence.

Hanwha, Kyobo and Tongyang were South Korea's second, third and eighth largest life insurers by assets, respectively. Tongyang is backed by Vogo Capital which acquired a 44% stake in the company in March, 2011.

MBK was revealed to have hired Barclays to advise on a bid for the unit last month.

ING is looking to totally divest itself of ING Life Insurance Korea, the country's fifth-largest life insurer, but to facilitate a deal it is said to be accepting bids of as little as 51%.

The Amsterdam-headquartered firm must sell its controlling stakes in all its Asian insurance units by the end of this year under the revised terms of a 2008 Dutch government-bailout package with the proceeds being used to repay the bailout.

Last year ING failed to sell the unit to KB Financial Group after 10 months of negotiations, during which the asking price was pushed down to $2.1 billion.

ING is said to be taking a more streamlined approach to reaching a deal this time around by planning to talk with individual bidders as they submit their preliminary offers rather than setting deadlines for each step in the process. A deal on the Korean unit is expected to closed by late June or July.

The Dutch company has already reached deals for its Hong Kong, Malaysian and Thai businesses. or $3.9 billion. The Malaysia unit went to AIA Group while the latter two were picked up by Richard Li's Pacific Century Group for EUR1.64 billion ($2.1 billion). ING is still looking for a buyer for its Japan unit.

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• Topics
• North Asia
• Financials
• Buyouts
• South Korea
• Vogo Investment
• CVC Capital Partners
• MBK Partners
• buyout