ING sells Taiwanese asset management arm to Nomura

Leading Dutch bank ING is selling its Taiwanese asset management arm for an undisclosed amount amid restructuring its business to pay back a multi-billion-euro state loan, the bank said on Friday. "ING announced today that it has reached an agreement to sell ING Investment Management (IM) Taiwan ... to Japan-based Nomura Asset Management in partnership with a group of investors," ING said in a statement. "The transaction announced today is in line with ING's earlier announced strategy to divest its insurance and investment businesses," the Amsterdam-based group said. ING spokeswoman Victorina de Boer declined to put a value on the deal but pointed out that "the transaction is not expected to have a material impact on ING group results." Last month the bank said it had sold its South Korean insurance arm at an after-tax loss of around 1.0 billion euros ($1.3 bn) which was reflected in its 2013 third-quarter results, released in November. The sales form part of a drive by ING to restructure its business as it sought to finish repaying 10 billion euros in state aid, received in 2008 during the height of the financial crisis. The banker has already paid back more than 11.5 billion euros on the state loan received in October 2008 and is expected to pay two more instalments each worth 1.1 billion euros by May 2015. So far, ING has sold business in Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Latin America and Asia under its restructuring. ING IM Taiwan is among the top 10 investment management firms in Taiwan with approximately 5.2 billion euros in assets under management.