ING Real Estate Investment Management has dropped out of the running to acquire Citi Property Investors.
The decision by the Dutch group leaves two parties to fight it out – Apollo Global Management based in New York, and Australia’s Macquarie Group.
ING and Citi would not comment on the process, but city sources confirmed ING was no longer in the running.
Citi is honing in on a decision, however, with interested parties meeting investors in Citi’s funds in New York recently as part of the auction process.