ING Life Insurance starts anew as OrangeLife starting Sept

ING Life Insurance Korea Ltd. will start anew as OrangeLife from September 3 as it formally loses the right to use the ING trademark by the end of the year. The life insurer was the fifth largest in Korea as of the end of 2016.

Orange is the insurer’s brand color, and “Life” describes its business identity as a life insurer, according to the company. The rebranding requires approval from shareholders on Aug. 23.

Korean private equity fund MBK Partners has been trying to sell the remaining stake in the insurer it bought from Netherlands-based ING Group in 2013 before the five-year trademark contract ends by the end of this year.

On Thursday, shares of ING Life lost 3.8 percent and closed at 40,500 won in Seoul trading.

Attempt to sell the stake via an action in 2016 failed after Chinese bidders pulled out amid tensions over Seoul’s installation of U.S. anti-missile system. MBK instead chose to make the insurer go public to cash in on some of its investment. The initial public offering in MBK’s 40.9 percent holding in common shares raised 1.1 trillion won ($985 million) in May last year. The fund approached several candidates including Shinhan Financial Group to sell the remaining shares but did not succeed due to foggy business prospects.

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