The FINANCIAL — ING Group announced the pricing for the sale of approximately 33.8 million shares of common stock of ING U.S., Inc., its U.S.-based retirement, investment and insurance subsidiary.
Based on the final price of USD 35.23 per share for the 26.5 million shares being sold in a public offering, gross proceeds to ING Group from the public offering and a concurrent direct sale of approximately 7.3 million shares to ING U.S. amount to approximately USD 1.2 billion (EUR 850 million at current exchange rates), which ING Group intends to use for the reduction of ING Group core debt, according to ING.
The sale of approximately 33.8 million shares reduces ING Group’s stake in ING U.S. to approximately 45%, from approximately 57% at year-end 2013. Following this transaction, the retained minority stake in ING U.S. will be deconsolidated and will going forward be accounted for as an associate using equity accounting. This fulfils a European Commission restructuring requirement to divest at least 50% of ING U.S. before year-end 2014.
As a result of the deconsolidation of ING U.S., the sale of approximately 33.8 million shares results in an estimated negative after-tax P&L impact of approximately EUR 2 billion to be booked in ING Group’s First Quarter 2014 Results. This amount broadly reflects the difference between the estimated IFRS book value and the market value of ING Group’s 57% stake in ING U.S. at deconsolidation, and includes the release of corresponding revaluation reserves. As previously announced, the transaction will not have an impact on the capital position of either ING Bank or NN Group, according to ING.
ING Group has granted the underwriters for the offering an option to purchase up to approximately 4 million additional shares, which, if fully exercised, will further reduce ING Group’s stake in ING U.S. to approximately 43%.
ING Group has previously announced its intention to divest its remaining stake in ING U.S. over time, in line with its strategy to separate and divest its insurance and investment management businesses. In this context, ING Group sold shares of ING U.S. through an initial public offering in May 2013 and a follow-on offering in October 2013. If this offering is completed, any sale of ING Group’s retained ING U.S. shares is expected to be subject to a lock-up period of 90 days from the pricing of the offering (subject to certain exceptions and the underwriters’ ability to waive lock-up restrictions). ING U.S. shares trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “VOYA”, according to ING.
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