OREANDA-NEWS. ING announced today its intention to sell approximately 45 million ordinary shares in NN Group. The ordinary shares will be sold by way of an accelerated book building offering to institutional investors. As part of the transaction, NN Group has committed to repurchase NN Group ordinary shares from ING Group for an aggregate amount of EUR 150 million. Following a successful completion of the transaction, ING Group’s stake in NN Group’s outstanding capital is expected to decrease to approximately 42.4% from currently 54.8%.

ING has previously announced that it intends to divest its remaining stake in NN Group over time, in line with its strategy to divest all of its insurance and investment management businesses as part of the restructuring agreement with the European Commission as amended on 16 November 2012, ultimately by the end of 2016. In this context, ING Group sold shares of NN Group through an initial public offering in July 2014 and a follow-on offering in February 2015. NN Group ordinary shares are traded on Euronext Amsterdam under the symbol ‘NN’.

The offer price and the final number of shares sold will be determined at the conclusion of the book building process and will be announced in a separate press release. The book is open with immediate effect and is expected to close ultimately by 17:30 CET on 27 May 2015, although ING Group reserves the right to close the book before then at short notice. The transaction is expected to settle on 29 May 2015. As of the settlement date of the offering, the remaining shares in NN Group held by ING Group will be subject to a lock-up period of 90 days (subject to certain exceptions and the Joint Global Coordinators and Bookrunners’ right to waive the lock up restrictions).

Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs, ING Bank and J.P. Morgan are acting as Joint Global Coordinators and Bookrunners for the offering.

ING is a global financial institution with a strong European base, offering banking services through its operating company ING Bank and holding a significant stake in the listed insurer NN Group NV. The purpose of ING Bank is empowering people to stay a step ahead in life and in business. ING Bank’s 53,000 employees offer retail and commercial banking services to customers in over 40 countries.ING Group shares are listed (in the form of depositary receipts) on the exchanges of Amsterdam (INGA NA, ING.AS), Brussels and on the New York Stock Exchange (ADRs: ING US, ING.N).Sustainability forms an integral part of ING’s corporate strategy, which is evidenced by ING Group shares being included in the FTSE4Good index and in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (Europe and World) where ING is the industry leader in the diversified financials group.