ING said on Monday it was in discussions with several parties on a possible sale of parts of its real estate arm, whose property portfolio is valued at over 65 billion euros ($87 billion).

These talks may lead to one or more transactions and any speculation on scope, pricing and conditions of such deals would be premature, ING said in a statement, without providing further details.

On Friday, a source familiar with the situation told Reuters that U.S. property group CB Richard Ellis was in talks to buy the unit, ING Real Estate Investment Management, in a deal that would value it at about 1 billion euros.

The Financial Times had earlier said that CBRE was the frontrunner to buy the real estate business of the Dutch bank and insurance group ING Groep NV.

Other bidders include Vornado Realty Trust, a U.S. real estate investment trust and Jones Lang LaSalle, a property services group, the newspaper said.

Earlier in January, ING said it could sell the unit in its entirety or in pieces, and that a decision was expected in the next few months.

ING has split its bank and insurance operations, and plans to sell some of its real estate business after suffering heavy losses in the credit crisis. It still needs to pay back roughly half of 10 billion euros in state aid. (Reuters)