Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd, the fourth biggest bank of Australia, is set to materialize one of its biggest acquisitions since 2003 by acquiring stakes in life insurance and wealth-management business of Amsterdam-based ING Groep worth A$1.76 billion.

ANZ is in a race to acquire 51 percent stakes in ING's Australian and New Zealand arms. ING is expected to make a profit of 300 million euros from the transaction. Austrian banks remained almost insulated from the adverse impact of global financial crisis, thanks to their lending of whopping sums to the rising housing sector.

Tom Quarmby, an analyst at Macquarie Group Ltd. in Sydney termed the acquisition price reasonable and said: "There was talk that this joint venture was somewhat prohibitive, so this gives ANZ options to look for more acquisitions in wealth management."

Ken Hanton, a senior credit analyst at National Australia Bank Ltd also hailed ANZ's move to buy stakes in INZ adding, "From a credit perspective this makes the acquisition far more attractive than higher risk alternative options." ANZ's transaction is expected to complete in the fourth quarter, after getting necessary approvals from the regulator.