MBK Partners Ltd., a buyout firm formed by former Carlyle Group executives, agreed to buy ING Group NV’s South Korean life insurance operations for about 1.84 trillion won ($1.7 billion).

The Dutch firm will hold an indirect stake of around 10 percent in ING Life Korea Insurance Ltd. for about 120 billion won and the unit will continue operating under ING brand for as long as five years, ING said in a statement today.

Selling the business to MBK would bring ING, the biggest Dutch financial-services company, closer to fulfilling its pledge to divest assets following a 2008 government bailout. ING failed to sell its Korean life insurance assets last year to KB Financial Group Inc., after the KB Financial board scrapped the plan. The Amsterdam-based firm had planned to raise about $2 billion from the sale.

“This transaction is a major step in the divestment of our Asian insurance and investment management activities,” Jan Hommen, chief executive officer of ING, said in the statement. (Bloomberg)