ING in talks with MBK Partners over Korean life insurance arm

The Dutch bank's Life Insurance Korea arm has reportedly been valued at approximately $1.6bn, and would mark the largest deal to be executed in South Korea this year, if completed, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The Seoul-based firm is the third to enter exclusive talks with ING, following on from KB Financial Group last year and the Tongyang-Vogo consortium in June, both of which have now pulled out of the running.

The Dutch bank is required to divest a hefty portion of its Asian life insurance branch, of which its Korean operations make up the largest stake, due to conditions set as part of ING's acceptance of bailout funding from the Dutch government in 2008.

MBK Partners is a South Korean private equity firm with $6.3m in assets under management, according to its website. The firm focuses on making acquisitions in North Asia, namely Korea, Japan, China, Taiwan and Hong Kong.

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• Topics
• Benelux
• Financials
• ING
• Netherlands