Australia’s Macquarie Bank takes over RP, Asian operations of ING Group

The Australia-based Macquarie Bank has forged a deal with the Dutch financial giant ING to acquire 100 percent of the latter’s investment banking operations and equities businesses in Asia, including the Philippines.

The transaction includes the purchase of ING’s cash equity sales, sales trading, research and equity capital market operations in 10 countries in Asia as well as sales and trading desks in London, New York and other European and North American locations.

Apart from the Philippines, the ING Group also operates in Hong Kong, Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Thailand, Singapore, China, Indonesia, and Malaysia.

The transaction is expected to be completed for most core Asian countries by end-July. Under the terms of the agreement ING will transfer to Macquarie a total of 428 employees. Financial details of the transaction are subject to a confidentiality agreement between the two parties.

ING’s insurance and asset management operations in Asia, however, are not affected by the sale.

ING said it is concentrating its efforts on providing value-added products and services to a selected group of clients to whom it cross-sells a broad range of products. These comprise debt-related financing, mergers and acquisitions advisory and financial markets products.

Macquarie Bank Managing Director and chief executive officer Allan Moore said the transaction would not have a material impact on the bank’s balance sheet but deemed it significant because of its potential.

Moore said the profit contribution of the business would depend entirely on the markets and the operating performance of the team.

"This acquisition will give Macquarie critical mass in institutional broking in Asia-Pacific, which is our home region. It allows Macquarie to broaden its activities and is an ideal extension to Macquarie’s existing infrastructure, equity capital markets, mergers and acquisitions," Moore said.

"We are confident we will be able to quickly obtain leverage from combining the former ING operations with our existing businesses and we are working closely with the senior management team at ING to ensure a smooth transition," Moore said.