LONDON â€" The Dutch financial services group ING said Wednesday that it would pay 1.13 billion euros ($1.55 billion) to the Dutch government in November as it moves closer to repaying the state aid it received during the financial crisis.
As of its next payment on Nov. 6, ING will have repaid 8.5 billion euros in principal of the 10 billion euros it received from the Dutch government in 2008, plus an additional 2.8 billion euros in interest and premiums.
“With this payment we will have paid the Dutch state over 11 billion euros in principal, interest and premiums and we intend to make our final payments within the next 18 months, resulting in a total annualized overall return for the Dutch state of 12.5 percent,†said Ralph Hamers, ING’s chief executive.
As it works to repay the state, ING has announced a series of divestures this year in Asia, most recently selling its South Korean insurance operations for 1.84 trillon won ($1.73 billion) to the private-equity firm MBK Partners.
Based in Amsterdam, ING raised $1.3 billion in an initial public offering of its United States unit in May and has announced plans for an I.P.O. of its European insurance business next year.
ING is scheduled to make two more payments to the Dutch government, in March 2014 and in May 2015.
