BNS buys ING Direct

Article Excerpt

BANK OF NOVA SCOTIA $52.46 (Toronto symbol BNS: Shares outstanding: 1.1 billion; Market cap: $57.7 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Div. yield: 4.4%, www.scotiabank.com) has agreed to buy ING Bank of Canada, which operates as ING Direct, from Netherlands-based ING Group. ING Direct offers a wide variety of no-fee banking services, mainly over the Internet. It has 1.8 million customers and $30 billion in deposits. Bank of Nova Scotia will keep ING Direct as a separate business. The bank will pay $3.1 billion for ING Direct when the deal closes in December 2012. However, ING Direct holds cash of $1.2 billion, so the real cost is around $1.9 billion. Separately, the bank reported that its earnings per share before one-time items rose 10.9% in the three months ended July 31, 2012, to $1.22 from $1.10. Earnings rose at all four of its divisions: Canadian Banking, International Banking, Wealth Management, and Global Banking and Markets. In response to weaker economic conditions overseas, Bank of Nova…