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ING buys Aetna units?
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July 16, 2000: 8:33 a.m. ET
Report: Dutch financial group agrees purchase from US insurer for $8B
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LONDON (CNNfn) - Dutch financial company ING Groep NV has agreed to buy the international and financial-services units of market-leading U.S. health insurer Aetna Inc. for up to $8 billion in cash and the assumption of debt, a U.K. media report said Sunday.
The agreement brings an end to ING's pursuit of Aetna, which has been under way since February, said Sunday Business newspaper, citing bankers close to the transaction. It marks Aetna's separation of its health-insurance and financial-services operations.
In March, Hartford, Conn.-based Aetna (AET: Research, Estimates) rejected an unsolicited $10.4 billion buyout offer from Amsterdam-based ING and WellPoint Health Networks (WLP: Research, Estimates), a Thousand Oaks, Calif.-based health insurer. But two months later it said it was in talks with ING (ING: Research, Estimates) over the sale of some of its units.
Initial talks with the Dutch company broke down over the price, and subsequent reports said Aetna had received expressions of interest in the businesses from American International Group (AIG: Research, Estimates) and Citigroup Inc (C: Research, Estimates) of the United States, Allianz (ALV) of Germany, Aegon (AEG: Research, Estimates) (AEG: Research, Estimates) of the Netherlands, and U.K. insurer Prudential PLC (PRU).
The purchase will advance ING's stated strategy of expanding aggressively in North America. It may formally announce the deal as early as Monday, said Sunday Business.
Aetna's decision to separate its financial-services business from its health insurance operation is the brainchild of CEO William Donaldson, appointed in February after former chief executive Richard Huber resigned under pressure. 
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ING Groep
Aetna
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