RRJ Capital raises share in ING’s US insurance unit

RRJ Capital, an Asian based private equity firm was established by Richard Ong, in March 2011, who is the ex- management dealmaker at Goldman Sachs and Hopu. He is a master of knowledge when it comes to investing. The command of the firm currently has over 20 employees. They are a strong and dynamic team. In June 2011, the company closed its first fund of 2.3 billion US dollars in fund size. Richard Ong has invested a further 248 million US Dollars in ING Groep’s U.S. insurance unit. The stake was required by RRJ Capital, from ING Groep, which sold a further 38 million shares in its U.S. insurance unit ING US Incorporated and raised a whopping 1.12 billion US Dollars on another day.

An entire 4.4 percent of the firm is now owned by RRJ Capital of ING US, making it the company’s second-biggest shareholder. RRJ mainly specializes in buyouts and growth capital investments. The company seeks to invest in energy, agriculture, healthcare, food, natural resources, consumer products, real estate, and financial institutions industries. RRJ targets investing in Asia with Indonesia, Malaysia, China, South East Asia, and India as its main goal. It invests more or less 50 million US Dollars and 3 billion US Dollars per deal. The company is based in Hong-Kong but has an additional office in Singapore The 150 million US Dollars, worth of equity and bonds it purchased of Hong Kong- listed China property Creator CIFI Holdings Group Co Ltd, and the 33 million US Dollars of shares it bought in Singapore-listed China water treatment firm SIIC Environment Holdings Ltd are among the company’s most recent deals.

RRJ Capital was founded in 2011 by Ong and in the very same year, his younger brother, Charles, who was formerly a senior managing director at Singapore state investor Temasek Holdings (Private) Ltd for 10 years, joined the company and he is now co-CEO and chairman of RRJ Capital. His prior positions included Chief investment officer as well as Chief strategy officer.

A source confirmed that in the month of May, 78 million US Dollars was invested by RRJ Capital in ING’s US insurance unit, during its 1.3 billion Dollar IPO, which was at 19.50 US Dollars a share. The latest share was bought by RRJ Capital at 29.50 US Dollars each, as ING’s stakes were cut to more or less 57 percent. ING was rescued by a state bailout in 2008 and have now been selling assets globally to repay the euros that exceed the 10 billion mark. ING has dismantled its once- fashionable banking and insurance model since then, and announced job cuts by the thousands, raising more or less 23 billion euros with that, and other cost savings.