ING Real Estate, part of the commercial banking division of Dutch financial services group ING Group, booked a loss of EUR 580 mln in the second quarter of 2009, bringing first-half losses to EUR 770 mln, it emerged from the company's H1 results which were published on Wednesday. The losses mainly reflect devaluations in ING's real estate portfolio, including a EUR 251 mln write-down on its Summit portfolio of Canadian industrial assets.

ING Real Estate, part of the commercial banking division of Dutch financial services group ING Group, booked a loss of EUR 580 mln in the second quarter of 2009, bringing first-half losses to EUR 770 mln, it emerged from the company's H1 results which were published on Wednesday. The losses mainly reflect devaluations in ING's real estate portfolio, including a EUR 251 mln write-down on its Summit portfolio of Canadian industrial assets.

ING's total direct real estate exposure was EUR 14.9 bn at end-June 2009. Of this amount, EUR 8.8 bn is subject to revaluation via the group's profit and loss account.

The losses at ING Real Estate pushed the group's entire banking arm into the red with a pre-tax loss of EUR 204 mln in the second quarter. The insurance arm posted a pre-tax profit of EUR 278 mln over the period.

Overall group profits amounted to a net EUR 71 mln in the second quarter. However, due to losses in the first quarter, ING ended the first half in the red with losses of EUR 722 mln.