ING appoints Morgan Stanley for possible sale of management arm

ING has appointed Morgan Stanley for a possible sale of its property management arm, as the Dutch bank reinvents itself following a state bailout, according to sources.

The hiring of the US investment bank comes after months of speculations on the future of the unit, which has assets amounting to US$92 billion under management, while ING is implementing heavy cuts in its business at the behest of the European Union.

The bank, which received €10 billion (S$16.9 billion) of state aid two years ago, announced that it would still keep Real Estate Investment Management (REIM) within the bank, after scrapping a planned transfer into ING Investment Management.

Several property market sources suggested that the appointment of banker William Connelly to REIM in March after the sudden retirement of George Jautze was a serious ambition.