ING plans rights call and downsizing

Dutch banking group ING is to launch a massive rights issue and is splitting itself in two to enable it to pay back government bail-out funds.The group, which received a €10bn hand-out from the Dutch government last year, is to raise €7.5bn through a right issue, and said it intends to raise more funds through the sale of its insurance and investment management assets by 2013.'Negotiations with the European Commission on the restructuring plan have acted as a catalyst to accelerate the strategic decision to completely separate banking and insurance operations,' the company said. 'ING will explore all options, including initial public offerings, sales or combinations thereof.'Once the funds from the issue have been pocketed the group will pay €5bn back to the state in December, far earlier than expected. It will also return a further €1.3bn in state guarantees that it has been given.The move will spike the guns of an EU investigation into the legality of the state aid ING received. European competition commissioner Neelie Kroes is investigating the legal ramifications of state hand-outs to banks, including those given by the UK government to Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking.The report is expected to be published before the end of the year.In keeping with many other banks with investment banking arms, ING is trading profitably once again and said it expects to announce third quarter adjusted net profits of €750m, versus a loss of 568m in the third quarter of 2008.The profitable third quarter represents an improvement on the €229m profit made in the second quarter.