NEW YORK, March 28 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- ING today announced the launch of the ING Asia Pacific High Dividend Equity Income Fund (the "Fund"), a non-diversified closed-end fund that invests primarily in a portfolio of high dividend yielding equity securities of companies located in the Asia Pacific region. ING Asia Pacific High Dividend Equity Income Fund raised $275 million in an initial public offering, where Citigroup Global Markets Inc. acted as sole bookrunner and lead manager, and Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Inc. and A.G. Edwards & Sons, Inc. acted as co-lead managers. The Fund began trading on the New York Stock Exchange today under the ticker "IAE." "We are very pleased the financial advisers and their clients recognized the unique investment opportunities in Asia Pacific offered by IAE," said Mark Weber, Executive Vice President and Head of Structured Asset Management at ING in New York. "We believe this is a unique closed-end fund offering broad exposure across the Asia Pacific region focusing on high dividend yielding equity securities. ING is one of the largest investment managers in the Asia Pacific ex Japan region and the Fund draws on ING's strong lineage in high dividend investment strategies." The Fund is managed by ING Investments, LLC and draws upon a team of experienced investment professionals at ING Investment Management Asia/Pacific (Hong Kong) Limited and ING Investment Management Advisors B.V., the Fund's sub-advisers. The investment management team is led by Nick Toovey, Regional Head of Equity for Asia Pacific, who is responsible for the overall portfolio construction of the Fund. The Fund seeks to invest primarily in high dividend yielding equity securities of Asia Pacific Companies, which are companies that are listed and traded principally on Asia Pacific exchanges, including Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand. The Fund seeks to construct a portfolio with a dividend yield that exceeds the dividend yield of the MSCI AC (All Countries) Asia Pacific ex Japan Index.* As part of its strategy, the Fund intends to employ a strategy of writing (selling) call options on selected Asia Pacific regional or country indices or futures and/or equity securities of Asia Pacific Companies, with the underlying value of such calls having approximately 0% to 50% (currently estimated to be 20% at inception) of the value of its holdings of equity securities. ABOUT ING FUNDS ING Funds is a premier provider of domestic, international and global retail mutual funds, designed to help meet the needs of every investor. ING Funds also offers a number of closed-end funds. ING funds are available through investment professionals and, employer-sponsored retirement plans, life insurance and annuities. ING Funds partners with ING Investment Management to create and deliver innovative and world class investment products. Both ING Funds and ING Investment Management fall under the global ING Groep umbrella. As of December 31, 2006, ING Investments, LLC managed approximately $50.1 billion in assets. ABOUT ING ING Groep is a global financial institution of Dutch origin offering banking, insurance and asset management to over 60 million private, corporate and institutional clients in more than 50 countries. With a diverse workforce of more than 113,000 people, ING comprises a broad spectrum of prominent companies that increasingly serve their clients under the ING brand. In the U.S., ING offers a comprehensive array of financial services to retail and institutional clients which include life insurance, retirement plans, mutual funds, managed accounts, alternative investments, direct banking, institutional investment management, annuities, employee benefits, financial planning, and reinsurance. ING holds top-tier rankings in key U.S. markets and serves over 15 million customers across the nation. For more information, visit http://www.ing.com/ . ABOUT CLOSED END FUNDS- Closed-end funds like the Fund do not continuously offer shares for sale and are not required to buy shares back from investors upon request. Shares of closed-end funds trade on national stock exchanges and, like other securities, share prices will fluctuate with market conditions and at the time of sale may be worth more or less than the original investment. For more complete information, or to obtain a prospectus on any ING fund, please call your Investment Professional or ING Funds Distributor, LLC at (800) 992-0180 or log on to http://www.ingfunds.com/ . The prospectus should be read carefully before investing. Consider a fund's investment objectives, risks, and charges and expenses carefully before investing. The prospectus contains this information and other information about a fund. Check with your investment professional to determine which funds are available for sale within their firm. Not all funds are available at all firms. This Fund has no historical performance. Investment return and principal value of an investment will fluctuate, and shares, when sold, may be worth more or less than their original cost. Please log on to http://www.ingfunds.com/ to obtain performance when available. * The MSCI AC (All Countries) Asia Pacific ex Japan Index is a free float-adjusted market capitalization index that is designed to measure the equity market performance in the Asia Pacific region ex Japan. As of December 2006, the MSCI AC (All Countries) Asia Pacific ex Japan Index consisted of the following emerging and developed market countries: Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand. Principal Risk Factors: Asia Pacific Regional and Country Risks. Investments in the Asia Pacific region are subject to special risks. The Asia Pacific region includes countries in all stages of economic development. Some Asia Pacific economies may be characterized by over-extension of credit, currency devaluations and restrictions, underdeveloped financial services sectors, heavy reliance on international trade, and economic recessions. Currency fluctuations, devaluations and trading restrictions in any one country can have a significant effect on the entire Asia Pacific region. Increased political and social instability in any Asia Pacific country could cause further economic and market uncertainty in the region, or result in significant downturns and volatility in the economies of Asia Pacific countries. In the late 1990s, the economies in the Asian region suffered significant downturns and increased volatility in their financial markets. Option Risks. There are numerous risks associated with transactions in options. A decision as to whether, when and how to write call options under the Fund's strategy involves the exercise of skill and judgment, and even a well-conceived transaction may be unsuccessful to some degree because of market behavior or unexpected events. When a call option sold by the Fund is exercised or closed out, the Fund may be required to sell portfolio securities or to deliver portfolio securities to the option purchaser to satisfy its obligations when it would not otherwise choose to do so, or the Fund may choose to sell portfolio securities to realize gains to offset the losses realized upon option exercise. Such sales or delivery would involve transaction costs borne by the Fund and may also result in realization of taxable capital gains, including short-term capital gains taxed at ordinary income tax rates, and may adversely impact the Fund's after-tax returns. The Fund will seek to maintain for the Fund written (sold) call options positions on select Asia Pacific Indices and/or equity securities of Asia Pacific Companies whose price movements, taken in the aggregate, are correlated with the price movements of the equity securities and other securities held in the Fund's portfolio. To the extent that there is a lack of correlation and the indices or equity securities underlying the Fund's written option positions appreciate more than the Fund's portfolio, this may result in losses or limit gains to the Fund. The impact of transaction costs on the profitability of a transaction may often be greater for options transactions than for transactions in the underlying indices or securities. The illiquidity of options on Asia Pacific Indices and/or equity securities of Asia Pacific Companies relative to similar instruments for U.S. domestic strategies means that the Fund may not find the counterparties or efficient option pricing to enable it to implement the call writing strategy contemplated. The Fund may also write call options with different characteristics that are managed differently than described above. DATASOURCE: ING CONTACT: Tracey Gordon, +1-212-309-1791, Web site: http://www.ing.com/ http://www.ingfunds.com/

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