Und hier das original Reuters Zitat: AMSTERDAM, Sept 15 (Reuters) - European Commission competition authorities are not ready to approve a 22 billion euro ($32 billion) loan portfolio guarantee between ING and the Dutch state, newspaper De Volkskrant reported on Tuesday.
Shares in ING were down 4.5 percent at 10.42 euros at 0733 GMT after the paper said that if Dutch Finance Minister Wouter Bos was unable to win EC approval in the next six months, ING may be forced to take a bigger hit on the deal.
An ING spokesman declined to comment. The Dutch finance ministry also declined to comment.
In January, ING and the Dutch state struck a deal for the government to guarantee 80 percent of a 27.7 billion euro portfolio of so-called Alt-A and subprime residential mortgage-backed securities.
The government is due to receive 80 percent of the cash generated from the portfolio, which it took on at a 10 percent discount to par value.
The EC gave the deal six-month approval in March while it conducted an investigation. An EC spokesman said a decision on the deal was due on Tuesday, but declined to comment further.
De Volkskrant said European Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes believed the state was too generous with the deal but would give the finance ministry another six months to prove its case.
The ruling comes at an awkward time for the Dutch government. It was due to present the 2010 budget in parliament at 1300 GMT -- a budget expected to show sharp deficits due, in part, to the massive aid it gave to the financial sector.
KBC Securities downgraded ING to 'reduce' on Tuesday, saying the bank could be forced to pay another 1 billion euros, or 50 cents per share, to get the risk transfer approved.
SNS Securities said in a note on Tuesday that the news supported its decision to downgrade ING to 'reduce' last week.
In a worst-case scenario for the revaluation of the portfolio, ING could suffer a hit of 60 basis points to its core Tier I ratio, SNS said. ING had a Tier I ratio of 7.3 percent on June 30, so such a hit would take it below minimum levels and leave it with a capital shortfall, the note added.
ING stock has been resurgent lately, helped by sharp increases in some analysts' target prices. Sources have said it was also about to successfully complete a sale of its Asian and Swiss private banking assets.
Since touching an intra-day low of 7.75 euros on Aug. 12, the stock is up 41 percent. Over the same period the DJ STOXX European bank index is up 7.7 percent.
(Additional reporting by Aaron Gray-Block; Editing by Dan Lalor and Lin Noueihed) ($1 = 0.6833 euro) Keywords: ING/
(ben.berkowitz@thomsonreuters.com; +31 20 504 5011; Reuters Messaging: ben.berkowitz.reuters.com@reuters.net)
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