Linklaters and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer have grabbed lead roles on the latest divestiture by Dutch financial services giant ING Groep, which announced Tuesday that it has agreed to sell a British savings and loan unit to Barclays. While terms of the transaction were not disclosed, Barclays is acquiring 1.5 million customers from ING Direct U.K., as well as $17.5 billion in deposits, according to a press release containing details of the transaction.
The move into retail banking by London-based Barclays follows a rate-fixing scandal that, according to our previous reports, yielded key advisory roles for several large firms, and resulted in the bank, one of Europe’s largest, paying a $453 million fine to U.S. and U.K. authorities and the resignation of former CEO Robert Diamond.
