The company said the initial public offering on Euronext Amsterdam will comprise existing ordinary shares in NN Group which are currently wholly owned by ING.
ING Group chief executive, Ralph Hamers, said: “Today’s announcement signals the launch of the final major transaction in ING’s five year restructuring.
“With the IPO of NN Group, we will have substantially completed the repositioning of ING as a pure bank. For NN Group it is a pivotal step in the journey to become a standalone company."
ING describes NN as a “leading Dutch insurer with a strong European insurance and investment management footprint and an attractive Japanese business , including its main business lines Nationale-Nederlanden, ING Insurance Europe, ING Investment Management and ING Life Japan”.
The announcement is in line with ING’s previously stated objective to divest its insurance and investment management businesses to become a “pure bank”.
In total, ING plans to divest more than 50% of its shareholding in NN Group before 31 December next year and the remaining shares before 31 December 2016, as per a time line agreed with the European Commission.
ING has been steadily selling down its insurance business over the past few years. This time last year it sold its Thai insurance business, followed six months later by the sale of its Korean business and in January Normura agreed to buy its asset management operations in Taiwan.
