Billed to be the largest initial public offering (IPO) in Europe to date this year, Allen & Overy (A&O) and the London office of Davis Polk & Wardwell are advising on the sale of up to 77m ordinary shares in NN Group, valuing the Dutch insurer at €7bn and bringing in proceeds of €2bn for ING.
The spin-off, required as part of the terms of the €10bn public bailout ING received in 2008, is being led for ING by A&O Netherlands-based corporate partner and longstanding legal adviser to the Dutch-founded financial services company Charles Honée, as well as corporate partners Tim Stevens and Gerbrand Visser.
Davis Polk is representing the underwriters JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley and Deutsche Bank, led by the US firm’s London-based European financial institutions group head Jeffrey Oakes.
The Wall Street firm’s London office has secured a role on a number of recent IPO’s including the £1.2bn float of esure Group, where Oakes also advised.
Oakes said: ‘I’ve been doing work for ING since 1997 and have a long-standing relationship. We were very pleased to be involved in what has turned out to be a very successful transaction.’
The sale of 77 million shares in the IPO and the exchange of the €450m subordinated notes into NN Group shares reduces ING’s ownership in NN Group to 71.4% at the settlement of the IPO.
A&O can expect further work from the spin-off as after the IPO, ING intends to reduce its shareholding in NN Group to below 50% before 31 December 2015 and divest the remaining stake before 31 December 2016.
Jaishree.kalia@legalease.co.uk
