IN BRIEF: Barings deal goes through

Barings deal goes through

The administrators of the collapsed merchant bank Barings said last night they had formally signed an agreement to complete the sale of the bank to the Dutch financial services giant ING. Under the deal, Barings Asset Management, substantially all of the businesses of Baring Brothers & Co and Baring Securities have been sold to ING. "The joint administrators are delighted to relinquish control of the business operations so rapidly," they said in a statement.

Lawyers for ING had worked furiously to get Barings released from administration quickly so it could resume business. ING was bracing itself for a rush of depositors and clients wanting to remove funds. About 3,000 pension funds, charities, individuals, companies and local authorities had deposits worth more than £1.5bn frozen when Barings collapsed.