ING to sell South Korea unit to private equity firm MBK

ING Greop NV has agreed to sell its South Korean insurance unit to private equity firm MBK Partners for total cash proceeds of about 1.84 trillion won ($1.65 billion), the Dutch financial services firm said in a statement on Monday.

The agreement to sell the South Korean unit marks another step in ING's 1-1/2-year-old Asian divestment process. Last year, the bailed-out Dutch insurer sold its Hong Kong, Macau and Southeast Asian insurance units for a combined value of $3.87 billion.

Under the agreement, ING will hold an indirect 10 percent stake in ING Life Korea for about 120 billion Korean won ($107 million), confirming an earlier Reuters report.

(Reporting by Denny Thomas; Editing by Chris Gallagher)