ING TO SELL STAKE IN PACIFIC ANTAI LIFE

Netherlands-based financial services group ING is to sell its half-stake in China-based Pacific Antai Life Insurance to China Construction Bank. The sale will leave ING with a half-stake in China-based ING Capital Life. ING Insurance Asia Pacific CEO Frank Koster said that the deal would enable ING to "focus our efforts on building a stronger insurance platform through ING Capital Life to capture the opportunities presented in China". The Chinese regulator signalled this year that foreign players should focus their business on no more than one Chinese insurance venture. ING said that the deal was subject to regulatory approval and that it should complete by the second half of 2010. ING "inherited" its second Chinese life venture when it bought the Asian operations of US-based Aetna in 2000.