On 17 June 2008, ING Groepe N.V. (ING) announced that it will acquire 100% Oyak Emeklilik, a Turkish pension fund, from OYAK Group for €110 mn in cash. ING also announced that it has completed the sale of its reinsurance unit to Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (Berkshire Hathaway) for €272 mn. Both transactions are in line with the company’s strategy to focus on growing its core business, which we believe will act as a driver of long term growth. Therefore, we maintain our BUY rating for the common stock. We are likely to revert to a 6-24 month investment horizon for this stock in our next full update report, as we no longer anticipate a significant currency impact on the ADR over the medium term. However, based on our fundamental outlook, we maintain our BUY rating.

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