UPDATE: Lend Lease Considers Buying ING Retail Property Trust

Lend Lease Corp. (LLC.AU), Australia's largest property developer, said Friday it is considering buying ING Retail Property Fund as part of a continuing review of potential acquisitions.

The company was responding to a report in the Australian Financial Review that said Lend Lease and the Future Fund, the nation's sovereign wealth fund, were among the preferred parties to buy the unlisted A$1.4 billion fund, which owns some major Australian shopping centers.

Lend Lease, which had A$1 billion in cash on its books and undrawn facilities of about A$600 million on June 30, has said that it is seeking to buy distressed property assets arising from the global economic slowdown.

"Lend Lease's involvement in the competitive process for the acquisition of the ING Retail Property Fund may or may not lead to a transaction," the Sydney-based company said in a statement.

The AFR report said a final decision is expected as early as Friday from the fund's five pension fund investors, which both the AFR and The Australian newspaper have reported include Singapore's GIC Real Estate, one of that country's sovereign wealth funds, and Prudential PLC.

The Netherlands-based ING Groep NV said in October that it plans to sell its insurance and investment management businesses in the next four years to simplify its structure and concentrate on its banking assets.

The ING fund owns 17 major Australia and New Zealand shopping centers --nine retail, five outlet and three homemaker centers -- including Lakeside Joondalup Shopping City, in northern Perth.

Lend Lease shares closed down 1 cent at A$9.40, while the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index fell 1.5% to 4702.2.

A spokeswoman for ING declined to comment on the newspaper report and the statement by Lend Lease.

 
   -By Andrew Harrison, Dow Jones Newswires; 61-3-9292-2095; [e-mail]