ING Completes Unwinding of Illiquid Assets Back-Up Facility
February 10, 2014 by Marie Suszynski
AMSTERDAM – ING said it and the Dutch state have completed the unwinding of the Illiquid Assets Back-Up Facility, which was meant to lower risk and uncertainty for its U.S. Alt-A mortgage securities portfolio.
Through three auctions, Dutch state sold the remaining US$11.5 billion of securities in the portfolio for an average price of 77.3%. Proceeds paid off the remaining loans from ING.
With the settlement of fees, the Dutch state received a cash profit of 1.4 billion euros (US$1.89 billion) as a result of the unwinding.
“It is good that we can announce another major step in concluding the government support for ING,” Ralph Hamers, chief executive officer of ING Group, said in a statement. “We will continue to make ING stronger and simpler and further focus our company on serving our customers.”
ING plans to focus its position as an international retail, direct, and commercial bank while creating an optimal base for an independent future.
In January, ING U.S. Inc. said it would change its name to Voya Financial Inc. in April, followed by a rebranding period through September as its Dutch parent ING Group N.V. divests certain global businesses (Best’s News Service, Jan. 13, 2014).
In 2009 INB Group N.V. said it would divest its insurance businesses and has sold its insurance and investment operations in Canada, Australia and New Zealand, and Latin America. It also sold a large portion of activities in Asia (Best’s News Service, Aug. 26, 2013).
Rated companies of ING Group N.V. have a current Best’s Financial Strength Rating of A (Excellent) or A- (Excellent).
(By Marie Suszynski, Best’s News Service correspondent)