Bidders begin to circle ING’s coveted property investment management unit
ING Group may need to break up its world-leading real estate investment management unit to conclude a timely sale, with its bankers understood to have begun flushing out prospective buyers.
Morgan Stanley is thought to have received a slew of expressions of interest to take over ING Real Estate Investment Management, just weeks after the Dutch bancassurer mandated the bank to evaluate a sale as part of a restructuring in the wake of its €10bn (£8.4bn) state bailout.
The adviser is believed to have asked for letters from potential bidders confirming they were bidding for the whole and you could demonstrably show they could fund the bid. About 10 letters are understood to have been received.
Some of the world’s biggest fund managers and institutional investors are expected to log an interest to buy the ING unit, the largest real estate investment manager in the world with around €66bn of assets under management. AXA Real Estate, part of Europe’s second-largest insurer AXA and currently the second-biggest real estate investment manager, told a Reuters Summit last month it was mulling a possible bid.
Other interested parties include Allianz, asset managers Pramerica and Henderson Global Investors, Ameriprise Financial’s Threadneedle, Blackrock Investment Management and China Investment Corp.