ING Said to Price Insurance Unit at Midrange in $1.9 Billion IPO

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ING Groep NV, the biggest Dutch financial-services company, is likely to price the initial public offering of its European insurance arm at €20 [$27.38], in the middle of its original price range, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.

ING, based in Amsterdam, is selling 70 million shares in NN Group NV for €18.50 [$25.33] to €22.00 [$30.12] apiece, it said on June 16. The company received demand for multiple times the offer at 20 euros, said the person, who asked not to be named as the transaction is under way. At that price, the offer will raise €1.4 billion ($1.9 billion).

The stock is scheduled to start trading in Amsterdam tomorrow under the symbol NN. Following the sale and a conversion of €450 million $[616 million] in convertible notes under an agreement with three Asian investors, ING’s ownership in NN will drop to 73.6 percent, it said on June 16.

ING is taking the company with operations in Europe and Japan public after agreeing to sell global insurance and investment-management units to win European Union approval for a 2008 rescue from the Netherlands. Based on a price of 20 euros, the IPO will be Europe’s third-biggest in what is the most active year for share sales in the region since 2011, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

Victorina de Boer, a spokeswoman for ING, declined to comment.

ING agreed to sell more than half of NN by the end of next year and complete the disposal by the end of 2016.

ING hired JPMorgan Chase & Co., Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank AG and ING Bank to manage the IPO, according to a prospectus published on June 17. The offer period ends today at 1 p.m. in Amsterdam.