IBS Journal - Mergers & Acquisitions

In what could be considered an unexceptional year for M&A within the financial services sector, the fourth quarter saw GBP 9.88bn worth of business take place among the top 10 deals in October – almost GBP 1bn less than the comparative period last year.

ING's well-documented exit from Asia accounted for GBP 1.4bn of those transactions. The sale of its life insurance, general insurance, pension and financial planning units in Hong Kong and Macau, and its life insurance operation in Thailand to Pacific Century Group (PCG), alongside its Malaysian insurance business to AIA, meant the businesses are now in the hands of Asian financial services companies. The lack of European or US bidders for these businesses could be seen as indicative of a wider trend. Whereas five years ago and beyond firms such as ING were fighting tooth and nail to be a part of Asia's growing presence, they are now having to retreat as the crisis nearer their homeland grips ever tighter.

The Netherlands-based financial services company also offloaded ING Direct to Barclays, taking a EUR 320m loss in the process.

Away from ING, Canada saw the largest deal of the month after RBC paid GBP 2.56bn for auto financier, Ally Financial's Canadian operations in the country's largest deal this year.

Paul Francis-Grey, mergermarket

Announcement Date	Target Company	Bidder Company	Seller Company	Deal Value (£m)
19-Oct-12	ING Groep NV (Hong Kong, Macau and Thailand insurance units)	Pacific Century Group Holdings Limited	ING Groep NV	1,337
23-Oct-12	Ally Financial Inc (Canadian auto finance operations)	Royal Bank of Canada	Ally Financial Inc	2,562
11-Oct-12	ING Management Holdings (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd	AIA Group Limited	ING Groep NV	1,075
08-Oct-12	Administradora de Fondos de Pensiones Cuprum SA	Principal Financial Group Inc	Empresas Penta SA; and Inversiones Banpenta Limitada	944
09-Oct-12	Helm Bank SA	Banco CorpBanca Colombia SA	Helm Corporation	799
04-Oct-12	Jackson Square Aviation LLC	Mitsubishi UFJ Lease & Finance Company Limited	Oaktree Capital Group LLC	789
23-Oct-12	Fountainhead Property Trust	Growthpoint Properties Ltd		781
01-Oct-12	Cunningham Lindsey Group Limited (94.4% Stake)	CVC Capital Partners Limited	Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited; and Stone Point Capital LLC	537
18-Oct-12	ABA Seguros	ACE Limited	Ally Financial Inc	536
05-Oct-12	EFG Eurobank Ergasias SA	National Bank of Greece SA		523
03-Oct-12	Homeward Residential Inc	Ocwen Financial Corporation	WL Ross & Co	466
11-Oct-12	Bank of the Philippine Islands (10.4% Stake)	Ayala Corporation	DBS Group Holdings Ltd	386
08-Oct-12	Alliance Financial Corporation	NBT Bancorp Inc		143
20-Oct-12	Green Futures Co Ltd	Shanxi Securities Co Ltd	Zhengzhou Heating Co Ltd; Ximengrong Investment; Henan Anrong Property Development Co Ltd; and Shanghai Jie Sheng Environmental Protection Technology Co Ltd	84
17-Oct-12	Kansas City Board of Trade Clearing Corporation	CME Group Inc	Urbana Corp	78
29-Oct-12	Polygon Investment Management Limited	Tetragon Financial Group Limited		66
24-Oct-12	Bank Soyuz (50.01% Stake)	Ingosstrakh Insurance Company	Deposit Insurance Agency	57
23-Oct-12	Societe Alsacienne et Lorraine de Valeurs d'Entreprises et de Participations SA (51.42% Stake)	Tikehau Participations & Investissements	Societe Generale SA	56
15-Oct-12	ThomasPartners Inc	The Charles Schwab Corporation		53
08-Oct-12	BPH Towarzystwo Funduszy Inwestycyjnych SA	Abris Capital Partners	Bank BPH SA	40
Source: mergermarket
Notes:
Based on announced deals, including lapsed and withdrawn bids
Based on dominant geography of target being Global
Based on dominant sector of target being Financial Services
Data correct as of 01-Nov-2012
Includes all deals valued over USD 5m. Where deal value not disclosed, deal has been entered based on turnover of target exceeding USD 10m
Activities excluded from table include property transactions and restructurings where the ultimate shareholders' interests are not changed