Singapore's OCBC bank in talks with ING, while DBS is out (Roundup)

Oct 13, 2009, 11:46 GMT

   Singapore - Singapore's Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation Ltd (OCBC) revealed Tuesday it was in talks to acquire assets of the Dutch bank ING.

   'The bank wishes to inform shareholders that it is in discussions with ING in relation to a possible acquisition,' OCBC said in a statement to the Singapore stock exchange.

   The statement did not make clear if the talks were about acquiring ING's Asian private banking assets, for which the Amsterdam-based bank is said to be seeking buyers.

   However, Singapore's third-largest lender said the discussions were consistent with its 'strategy of looking for growth opportunities in the region.'

   The bank cautioned that a deal with ING was not guaranteed, noting that 'shareholders are advised that there is no certainty that any transaction or agreement will result from the discussions.'

   Another bidder for ING's assets, Singapore's biggest bank DBS group, has pulled out of the race, a source with knowledge of the deal told the German Press Agency dpa.

   DBS's decision had been reached 'some weeks ago,' said the source, who preferred not to be identified.

   A DBS spokesman declined comment. 'As a policy we do not comment on market rumours and speculation on our mergers and acquisitions activities,' he said.

   According to local media reports, London-based HSBC Holdings is another contender for a deal with ING.

   In April, ING announced that it planned to divest more of its non-core business activities, up to 8 billion euros (11.81 billion US dollars).

   Last week, Swiss banking firm Julius Baer Group said it would acquire the Swiss operation of ING for 505 million US dollars.

   During the global financial crisis, ING received a capital injection of 10 billion euros from the Dutch government.