ING to sell South Korea unit to private equity firm MBK

HONG KONG – 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)