In Brief: Dutch Company to Take Over German Bank

ING Group, the second-largest Dutch bank, said Friday that it would acquire the remaining 58.2% of Frankfurt-based BHF-Bank for $2.25 billion euros, or $2.4 billion dollars. ING already owns 41.8% of BHF-Bank.

The deal would increase the Dutch company's investment banking, asset management, and private banking capabilities in Germany. ING has a 49% stake in Allgemeine Deutsche Directbank, a telephone banking company based in Frankfurt. ING took a small position in BHF-Bank in the early 1980s and became the largest shareholder last September, said Wieger Sietsma, a spokesman for the bank.

Mr. Sietsma affirmed that ING's plans to make a deal in the United States. Our next move may be a life insurance company in the U.S., he said. -- Tania Padgett

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