(Reuters) – The sale of ING Group’s South Korean unit is set to be revived after private equity-backed Tong Yang Life Insurance Co Ltd said it was considering whether to buy the business, which is valued at about $2.1 billion.
- Tong Yang has market capitalisation of about $1.1 bln
- Tong Yang is backed by private equity fund Vogo Capital
Last year, Dutch financial services firm ING failed to strike a deal with KB Financial Group Inc to sell the unit after negotiating for nearly 10 months, during which KB pushed down the price to about $2.1 billion.
ING, which received a 10 billion euros ($13 billion) bailout in 2008, sold its Malaysian, Thailand and Hong Kong units last year for $3.9 billion. The sales were part of a wider asset divestment programme to repay the state bailout. But ING has yet to find buyers for two of its biggest Asian units – South Korea and Japan.
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