A range of suitors from the son of Asia's wealthiest man to Manulife Financial are expected to submit bids for ING Groep's Asia insurance business in a deal that could be in excess of US$7 billion, according to Reuters.

ING is selling its Asian life insurance and its asset management units in the region as it needs to repay bailout funds it received from the Dutch government during the 2008 financial crisis. Since the bailout, ING has sold €15.2 billion ($18.6 billion) worth of assets globally.

ING's Southeast Asian operations have generated the most interest, with Japan's Dai-ichi Life Co, South Korea's KB Financial Group, Korea Life Insurance and two groups expected to submit second-round bids for parts of the business, according to the Reuters report citing unnamed sources.

One consortium is led by ex-AIA CEO and a former rugby player Mark Wilson, backed by private equity firm Blackstone Group and Swiss Re, while the other is headed by Richard Li, son of billionaire Li Ka-shing, which is likely to be interested only in the Hong Kong, Malaysia and Thailand businesses.

ING CEO Jan Hommen scrapped a joint initial public offering of ING's Europe and Asia units in favour of an Asia sale about six months ago. Since then, the worsening euro zone crisis has put some potential buyers off big M&A bets. Metlife and Prudential Financial Inc, considered strong contenders for ING's insurance business, have dropped out of the process.