ING raises $1.3B in U.S. debut

Shares in insurer ING U.S. Inc. rose on their debut Thursday after parent ING Groep NV priced the stock below expectations to raise $1.3 billion.

The shares gained 51 cents, or 2.6%, to $20.01, in morning New York trading after ING priced the 65.2 million shares on offer at $19.50 each. That's just over 1% more than ING had planned to sell when it set a price range of $21 to $24 last month.

The Netherlands-based ING is careening toward the completion of a European Commission-mandated portfolio reduction. The EC ordered the divestments following a €10 billion ($13.2 billion) government bailout. ING is working to sell its 49% stake in South Korean insurance venture KB Life Insurance Co. to joint venture partner KB Financial Group for W165.5 million ($147.8 million).

It also recently completed the sale of its 70% stake in Malaysia-based ING Funds Berhad to Kenanga Berhad, a wholly owned subsidiary of K&N Kenanga Holdings Berhad. No price was released in that divestment.

So far, ING has repaid €7.8 billion of the government rescue funding as well as €2.4 billion in interest and other charges.

The U.S. initial public offering is the second largest this year behind Pfizer Inc.'s animal health unit Zoetis Inc. in January.

ING said it cut its stake in the U.S. division to 75% through Thursday's share sale. It plans on eventually unloading the unit entirely -- ING U.S. has already started renaming itself Voya Financial, and trades under the VOYA stock ticker.

Other divestments already completed include the sale of ING's U.K. online banking division to Barclays plc, which closed in early March; the €2.14 billion sale of its life insurance units in Hong Kong, Macau and Thailand to Richard Li's Pacific Century Group; and the sale of insurance operations in Malaysia to AIA Group Ltd. for an after-tax gain of about €750 million.

Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Citigroup Global Markets Inc. are joint global coordinators in the IPO.

Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Inc., Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC, Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. and JPMorgan Securities LLC are joint bookrunning managers.