BUCHAREST (Romania), October 27 (SeeNews) – Dutch banking group ING could sell its life insurance unit in Romania, ING Asigurari de Viata, as part of the group’s plans to separate its insurance segment from banking activities and sell it, Bucharest-based daily Business Standard reported on Tuesday.
“We have decided to separate our insurance business from other activities and to sell it, and Romanian operations are part of this plan. We can sell the Romanian unit or launch an initial public offering, a decision on this matter has not been taken yet,” the daily quoted ING spokesman Raymond Vermeulen as saying.
You can subscribe to our M&A newsletter here
ING plans to complete the separation of its insurance business by 2013, Business Standard (www.standard.ro) said.
ING’s decision to sell its insurance business followed the European Commission's request, in the autumn of last year, to pay back state aid of around 10 billion euro ($14.8 billion), the daily quoted insurance market analyst Herbert Fromme as saying.
ING Asigurari de Viata was set up in 1997. It is Romania's top life insurer in terms of gross written premiums.
($=0.6724 euro)