ING says it will acquire Bellevue's ShareBuilder

Dutch financial services giant ING announced an agreement Tuesday to acquire Bellevue online broker ShareBuilder for $220 million in cash.

The acquisition talks first were reported in the Seattle P-I last week, with former ShareBuilder executive Jeff Huse noting that the $220 million price is a "terrific deal" and a "very good outcome."

It has been a long slog for ShareBuilder, which was founded in 1996 and survived layoffs during the dot-com bust. It was backed with about $65 million from Madrona Venture Group, Wells Fargo, Safeco and others.

ING spokeswoman Pilar Teixeira said it was too early to say what would occur with ShareBuilder's Bellevue headquarters or its employee base. ShareBuilder employs 170 people. A ShareBuilder spokeswoman declined to comment.

A source told the P-I that Chief Executive Jeff Seely will leave ShareBuilder as a result of the acquisition, also noting that the company is looking for a larger office space in downtown Bellevue. That could indicate ING is not only looking to keep many of the employees, but also possibly to expand here.

In a news release, ING Direct USA Chief Executive Arkadi Kuhlmann said it will acquire 661,000 of ShareBuilder's customers. "Sharebuilder's online brokerage business will provide ING Direct customers with a low-cost, easy-to-understand tool to invest on a regular basis," Kuhlmann said.

ShareBuilder has grown its online brokerage business by allowing investors to buy partial shares of stock in dollar increments. Investors also can set up weekly, biweekly or monthly automatic purchases of more than 6,000 stocks. That means an investor could allocate $50 each month to buy Google, which closed Tuesday at $741.79 per share and is therefore too expensive for many to buy on the open market.

In 2004, ShareBuilder said it surpassed more than 1 million accounts and touted itself as the eighth-largest online brokerage in the country. It now has more than 2 million accounts.

ShareBuilder is marketed through banks, credit unions and retailers, including Compass Bank, Costco, Wal-Mart and Boeing Employees Credit Union.