Allen & Overy (A&O) and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer have both advised on the $2bn (£1.2bn) sale of the bulk of ING's Asia insurance business to telecoms company Pacific Century Group.

A&O acted for ING led by Amsterdam corporate partner Charles Honee, alongside London corporate partner Richard Evans, Hong Kong corporate partner Gary McLean and City insurance head Philip Jarvis.

Freshfields advised Pacific led by Shanghai managing partner Heiner Braun and head of Asia financial services Royce Miller, with China chairman Teresa Ko, Amsterdam corporate partner Robert ten Have and London employment partner Kathleen Healy.

The deal has seen ING dispose of its life insurance, general insurance, pension and financial planning units in Hong Kong and Macau, and its life insurance operation in Thailand to Pacific.

The move marks the latest in a string of sell-offs for the financial services group with A&O also taking a role for ING on last week's €1.3bn (£1.1bn) sale of its Malaysian insurance business to Asia life insurer AIA group.

Debevoise & Plimpton acted for AIA led by Hong Kong corporate partner Drew Dutton with Baker & McKenzie's Malaysia arm Wong & Partners also advising.

Meanwhile, Freshfields and Linklaters won lead roles on Barclays' takeover last week of ING Direct UK, the British online banking arm of ING.

Linklaters' client Barclays is set to inherit 1.5 million customers from ING through the transaction, which will also see Barclays acquire £10.9bn of savings deposits and a mortgage-lending operation with outstanding balances of £5.6bn. The value of the deal has not been disclosed.

The deals come after the EU imposed a series of sales on ING after its rescue by the Dutch government during the financial crisis.