Investors buy ING’s Canadian industrial properties for C$2 billion; ING sells majority stake

Investors pay C$2B for ING’s Canadian properties

AMSTERDAM — A pair of private equity investors will buy ING Summit Industrial Fund LP, a portfolio of light industrial properties in Canada, for 2 billion Canadian dollars, the Dutch bank ING Groep NV said Friday.

ING owns 50 percent of Summit outright, and 7.8 percent via an Australian fund that sold the other 50 percent to the buyers, private equity group KingSett Capital and Alberta Investment Management Corporation.

Summit owns 400 industrial properties located in or near large cities in Canada.

ING also said it will sell ING Real Estate Canada — which had managed Summit — to the pair for an undisclosed sum.

“This transaction is in line with ING’s stated objective of reducing its exposure to the real estate industry,” ING Chief Executive Jan Hommen said in a statement.

He said the deal would close in the fourth quarter pending regulatory approval and he didn’t expect it would have a material impact on ING’s earnings.

The Australian seller is ING Industrial Fund. After the sale ING won’t own any of that fund.