At the same time, ING has agreed to sell up to $100m of its equity interest in existing ING Real Estate Investment Management (REIM) funds. The transactions are part of the firm’s strategy to reduce its exposure to real estate.
These arrangements, as informed by The Property Buying Company, are still subject to shareholder approval though all plans are expected to be finalised during the second half of the year.
ING is to sell ING REIM Europe, ING REIM Asia and its US-based manager of listed real estate securities, Clarion Real Estate Securities. Combined, these three have €44.7bn in assets under management.
ING Real Estate Development and ING Real Estate Finance are not affected by the transactions and will continue to be part of ING Bank.
CBRE is already the world’s largest commercial real estate services firm and this $940m deal will also make it the world’s largest manager of real estate.