ING Completes Exit From Former Insurer Unit, NN Group, with $1.6B Stock Sale

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ING Groep NV sold its remaining stake in NN Group NV at a loss as the Dutch bank completed its drawn-out exit from the insurance business.

The bank sold 45.7 million shares, representing a 14.1 percent stake, for about 1.4 billion euros ($1.6 billion), or 30.15 euros a share, ING said Thursday in a statement. The deal is expected to result in a net loss at settlement to the bank of about 100 million euros in the second quarter, reflecting the difference in market value on the day of a previous share sale in January and the transaction price.

ING shares were 0.8 percent lower at 10.96 euros, while NN was down 2.5 percent as of 11:30 p.m. in Amsterdam.

ING sold NN shares in an initial public offering in July 2014 as part of a restructuring imposed by European regulators following the bank’s 10-billion-euro bailout in 2008. The bank had follow-on offerings in February, May and September of 2015 as well as in January this year, ING said in the statement.

“This marks the final step in ING’s repositioning as a leading European bank,” Chief Executive Officer Ralph Hamers said in the statement. “This transaction completes our restructuring and the divestment of our insurance and investment management activities.”

Credit Suisse Group AG, JPMorgan Chase & Co., UBS Group AG and ING managed the share sale. The Dutch bank continues to hold warrants for about 35 million shares in NN Group at an exercise price of 40 euros per share, according to the statement.

“We expect ING to reserve the full first-quarter profits for future dividends; the profits will not accrue as capital,” said JanWillem Knoll, an analyst at ABN Amro Group NV with a buy rating on the stock. “We don’t believe ING to have excess capital currently, as it does need a management buffer on top of its fully loaded capital requirement.”