Maas declined to say which shareholdings might be sold, adding that, depending on market conditions, ING might also issue a "relatively small amount" of shares to help finance the deal.

The Dutch insurance and financial-services giant confirmed earlier Thursday that it will buy the financial-services activities and international division of U.S.-based Aetna Inc. for $7.7 billion, including $2.7 billion in debt.

Under terms of the deal, understood to have been approved by the boards of both companies and expected to close at the beginning of 2001, Aetna shareholders would get $35 in cash and one share in the health-care company for each share of Aetna. The two sides met late Wednesday in Hartford, Conn., Aetna's base, and signed a pact in the middle of the night.

ING Chairman Ewald Kist said it is unlikely that the company will make any major additional acquisitions in the next few years, given ING's need to "digest" the takeover of the Aetna units.

"We have a good position in Europe, Asia and North America, and are done for the next few years," Kist said. The deal also marks a turning point for Aetna, the U.S.'s largest health insurer, and paves the way for its executives to turn their attention to repairing their ailing health-care business. The $35-per-share price to be paid by ING suggests a value for the health-care business of $24 a share, or about $3.4 billion, based on Wednesday's 4 p.m. price for Aetna's stock of $59. That's a stunning value, considering that in the past few years Aetna's health-care business purchased other health-care businesses for about $10 billion, including U.S. Healthcare for $8.2 billion in 1996.

-- (The Wall Street Journal)