ING Sells Swiss Private-Bking To Julius Baer For $500 Million -Source
October 06 2009 - 10:46PM
Dow Jones News
Dutch banking and insurance company ING Groep NV (ING) has
agreed to sell its Swiss private banking assets to Swiss wealth
manager Julius Baer Holding AG (JBHGY) for US$500 million, a person
familiar with the situation said Wednesday.
Julius Baer submitted the highest bid and was willing to "move
quickly" to seal the deal, the person said. There were two other
bids for the assets, the person said.
ING's Swiss private banking operations have about US$5 billion
in assets under management and recorded a net profit of about US$20
million in the January-August period, the person added.
An announcement on the sale will be made later Wednesday, the
person said.
Julius Baer and ING weren't immediately available for
comment.
ING is also in the process of selling its Asian private banking
assets, and people familiar with the situation said earlier HSBC
Holdings PLC (HBC) was believed to the frontrunner in the
bidding.
-By Amy Or, Dow Jones Newswires; 852-2832 2335;
amy.or@dowjones.com