ING U.S. is getting set to go public.

On Friday, the U.S. arm of the Dutch financial services giant filed its S-1 for an IPO, underwritten by Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs, and the press reports have followed, including Reuters, the Wall Street Journal, and Bloomberg Businessweek. [Filing here; report on our sister publication the 401kWire is here.

The U.S. arm of ING comprises the firm's investment management and mutual fund business, its retirement plan services, and its insurance operations. The 2008 bailout of ING by the Dutch government requires that the bank divest itself of some of its businesses, and the S-1 targets a sale price of up to $100 million.

ING U.S.'s investment management unit holds $166.1 billion in AUM, according to the S-1, and that business generated $64 million in operating income in the first half of 2012. ING U.S. is also the second-largest retirement plan administrator in the U.S., with $293.794 billion in assets. Its total assets under management and administration across all U.S businesses is $445.3 billion, and it reported a profit of $129.2 million in the first six months of the year.

The WSJ story digs in to the losses the firm suffered during the financial crisis, largely stemming from lifetime-income guarantees. These guarantees generated $3.2 billion of pretax losses in 2009, the story notes.

Reuters notes that the firm intends to rebrand itself after its IPO. 

Edited by: Chris Cumming


Stay ahead of the news ... Sign up for our email alerts now
CLICK HERE