ING Group announced today that it has reached an agreement with Berkshire Hathaway Group to sell its reinsurance unit NRG N.V. for approximately EUR 300 million. The sale is part of ING's strategy to focus on its core insurance, banking and asset management businesses.

NRG was established in 1968 as Nederlandse Reassurantie Groep, as a result of the merger of the two main Dutch reinsurance companies at the time, Algemeene Herverzekering Maatschappij and Universeele Reassurantie Maatschappij. ING became majority shareholder in 1974 and the sole owner in 1991, following the acquisition of Victory Reinsurance Company. ING decided in 1993 to run off NRG, stopping the underwriting of new business. Since then, NRG's life reinsurance subsidiaries were sold and a number of the remaining insurance liabilities were successfully settled.

The acquisition will be made by one of the insurance companies within the Berkshire Hathaway Group. The sale for approximately EUR 300 million will result in a capital loss after tax of around EUR 100 million for ING in 2007 and an improvement of 47 basis points of the debt / equity ratio of ING Group in 2008. The transaction is subject to regulatory approval and is expected to close in the first half of 2008.