As ING makes moves to comply with the terms of its 2008 and 2009 state bailout by selling off its insurance business, Bloomberg sources say the bank is now seeking a single buyer for its units in South-East Asia, Hong Kong and Japan.

The Dutch bank wants to include the Japanese assets in the sale and one of the possible bidders is Manulife Financial, said people with knowledge of the deal.

ING's Asian insurance and asset-management units hve a combined book value of €6.6bn, the group announced last month.

"It could make sense to press a buyer of the attractive Southeast Asia operations to accept a less popular unit as part of the deal to avoid being stuck with leftovers," analyst Dirk Peeters from KBC told Bloomberg.

"Country- by-country sales could lead to higher proceeds, yet can be more cumbersome in terms of capital demands and inter-group debt."

Shares were trading 0.05% higher at €6.11 this afternoon.

JM

Related share prices