Shares of ING Canada Inc. began trading Friday on the Toronto Stock Exchange as the company announced that it raised about $907 million by selling shares of the Canadian insurance unit, the biggest initial public offering of common stock in Canada since 2000.

The company will trade under the ticker “IIC.LV”.

ING Canada Inc., the largest property and casualty insurer in the country, sold 34.88 million shares at $26 each, higher than the initial range of $22 to $25.

The sale was led by Merrill Lynch & Co. and CIBC World Markets, a unit of Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, along with seven other banks. The lenders will share fees of about 5% of the amount raised, or $52 million.

The company said in a release it may sell 5.2 million additional shares to meet demand after the sale, increasing the proceeds to $1.04 billion. That would make it the biggest common-share IPO since the $1.2 billion sale by Sun Life Financial Inc. in March 2000. ING is selling about 30% of the Canadian business, including the so-called over allotment option, valuing the unit at $3.47 billion.

The insurer plans to pay an initial dividend yielding 2% to 2.5% a year, in line with the 2.2% yield for Sun Life, Canada’s second-biggest life insurer.

ING Canada’s parent, ING Groep, is selling shares of units in Europe, Asia and Australia and using the money to expand its insurance businesses and online banking. ING, the largest Dutch bank, said Thursday it may sell its ING Capital Advisors unit in the U.S. as part of the plan.