Tong Yang seeks $980 mln to fund insurance bid-Basis Point

Hanwha Life Insurance

05/06/2013 15:24

HONG KONG, June 5 (Reuters) - Three South Korean banks are arranging 1.1 trillion won ($980 million) in financing to back Tong Yang Life Insurance's  082640.KS  bid for Dutch bank ING's  ING.AS  South Korean insurance business, Basis Point reported citing bank sources. Tong Yang is competing against other bidders including the country's third-largest insurer Kyobo Life Insurance Co Ltd KYOBO.UL  and private equity firm MBK Partners, which are fighting to win control of an asset previously valued at roughly $2 billion.  ID:nL3N0E52TN   Daegu Bank  DAGBK.UL , Korea Exchange Bank and Woori Bank are working on the financing for Tong Yang, which is backed by Seoul-based private equity firm Vogo Fund, said Basis Point, a Thomson Reuters publication. Korea Development Bank  KDB.UL  is also working on financing to back a fourth bid from Hanwha Life Insurance Co Ltd 088350.KS , the country's second-largest insurer, Basis Point reported on Wednesday. ING is only required to sell more than 50 percent in the unit by 2013 and to divest the remaining interest by the end of 2016, but it wants to sell as much as possible, sources previously told Reuters.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL5E8MJ227   KB Financial Group Inc  105560.KS  had been lined up to buy the unit for roughly US$2.1bn last year, but dropped its bid. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N09S29N  After last year's sale fell through, seller ING asked bidders to attach bank letters of credit to their bids as a way to guarantee financial backing, sources told Reuters previously. ING Life Insurance Korea is the country's fifth-largest life insurer, with 22.7 trillion won ($20.2 billion) in assets at the end of 2012. Goldman Sachs  GS.N  and JP Morgan  JP.N  are advising ING on the sale. ($1 = 1122.2000 Korean won) (Reporting by Kane Wu of Basis Point; Writing by Stephen Aldred; Editing by David Holmes) ((stephen.aldred@thomsonreuters.com)(+852 2912 6609)(Reuters Messaging: stephen.aldred.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)) Keywords: ING SOUTHKOREA/TONGYANG