Published September 4, 2009

DBS makes bid for ING unit: report

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DBS Group, South-east Asia's biggest bank, has made a bid to buy the Asian private banking unit of Dutch banking group ING, sources with knowledge of the deal told Reuters yesterday.

In the race?: DBS is said to be eyeing the Asian private banking unit of ING

ING is selling its Swiss and Asian private banking businesses in a deal that could raise at least US$1.5 billion, sources said.

The planned sale is part of a restructuring plan announced in April.

Lazard Ltd is advising DBS, three sources told Reuters. It was not known immediately how much DBS has offered for the assets.

'From a longer-term perspective, we continue to believe that DBS needs a relatively important and value accretive M&A deal to restore confidence in the bank's ability to grow inorganically,' JPMorgan analyst Harsh Wardhan Modi said in a note last week.

A DBS spokeswoman declined to comment.

One of the sources said DBS will be 'conservative' in its bid.

ING is selling the private banking businesses as part of a plan to raise six billion euros (S$12.3 billion) to eight billion euros through asset sales.

Bids were due yesterday for the two units, which are being sold separately. ING can also choose to sell both units to one bidder.

One of the sources briefed on the deal said there are a 'handful' of bidders for the Asian assets and some for the European assets. 'There is some overlap too,' the source said.

Julius Baer, which is being advised by UBS, is expected to bid for both assets, sources said. Both Julius Baer and UBS declined to comment.

ING also declined comment as did JPMorgan, the Dutch bank's adviser. -- Reuters