BMW to buy ING Car Lease for €700 million
08 Jul 2011
Dutch financial services group ING Groep NV today said that it will sell its car lease unit to German automaker BMW for €700 million ($1 billion) in cash, a move aimed at focussing on its core activities and help repay state debt.
The Amsterdam-based company sold ING Car Lease to Alphabet, a BMW Group division headquartered in Munich, Germany.
The deal, expected to close at the end of the year, will see BMW paying ING €700 million in cash, which is expected to release €530 million of capital, adding 17 bps to ING's core Tier 1 ratio.
ING Car Lease, a subsidiary of ING Lease Holding and part of the ING Group, is one of the top 5 international non-captive car leasors in Europe, with operation in the Netherlands, UK, Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Spain, Italy and Poland.
It also offers financial leasing services for cars in all Central and Eastern European countries via the general lease business units in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Russia and through its alliances in Germany, Ireland, Portugal and Austria.
ING Car Lease had a balance sheet total €3.5 billion as on 31 December 2010.