ING confirms talks to sell real estate unit

ING Group is talking to “several parties” regarding the sale of parts of its ING Real Estate Investment Management business, spokeswoman Victorina de Boer confirmed. The discussions “may or may not lead to one or more transactions,” ING said in a statement Monday. InvestmentNews first reported that ING had put the real estate unit back on the block in April 2010. Ms. de Boer would not name the interested parties and declined to comment beyond information given in the statement. Private equity firm TPG Capital made an offer for REIM, while KKR & Co. pulled out of the bidding, people with knowledge of the situation said in December. CB Richard Ellis Group and Jones Lang LaSalle also submitted bids, according to the sources. REIM oversaw €65.3 billion ($86.8 billion) in assets as of Sept. 30 and had more than 650 clients, according to its website. Drew Carter is a reporter for Pensions & Investments, an InvestmentNews sister publication.