ING Investment Management U.S. Raises $385 Million in IPO for the ING Emerging Markets High Dividend Equity Fund (NYSE: IHD)

NEW YORK, April 27, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- ING Investment Management U.S. today announced the launch of the ING Emerging Markets High Dividend Equity Fund (the "Fund"), a newly organized, diversified, closed-end fund. The Fund invests principally in a portfolio of dividend producing equity securities, primarily of issuers in emerging market countries.

ING Emerging Markets High Dividend Equity Fund raised $385 million in an initial public offering led by Morgan Stanley, Citi, BofA Merrill Lynch, UBS Investment Bank, Wells Fargo Securities and Ameriprise Financial Services, Inc. The Fund began trading on the New York Stock Exchange today under the ticker "IHD".

"We are very excited to offer this new fund to financial advisers and their clients," said Mark Weber, Executive Vice President and Head of Investment Services.  "We believe IHD's research-driven approach to investing in high dividend emerging market equities is a differentiated approach to investing in some of the world's fastest growing economies. The Fund will seek to leverage ING's high dividend investment experience and its global emerging market research expertise with analysts based in 18 emerging market countries in Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe."

The Fund is managed by ING Investments, LLC and draws upon a team of experienced investment professionals at ING Investment Management Advisors B.V., the Fund's sub-adviser.  The investment management team is led by Moudy El Khodr and Manu Vandenbulck, who are responsible for the overall security selection and portfolio construction of the Fund.  

Under normal market conditions the portfolio managers will invest in 60 to 120 dividend producing equity securities of issuers in emerging markets. The Fund will also normally seek to secure gains and enhance the stability of returns over a market cycle by writing (selling) options on selected ETFs and/or international, regional or country indices of equity securities, and/or on equity securities. The portfolio managers will seek to construct a portfolio with a weighted average gross dividend yield that exceeds the dividend yield of the MSCI ® Emerging Markets Index. The MSCI ® Emerging Markets Index is a free float-adjusted market capitalization index that is designed to measure equity market performance of emerging markets and is composed of approximately 750 companies.

ABOUT ING INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT U.S.

ING Investment Management U.S. is a leading U.S.-based asset management firm and is a part ING U.S. Insurance. As of December 31 2010, ING IM U.S. manages approximately $154 billion of assets for institutions and individual investors worldwide. With over 900 employees, ING IM U.S. provides clients with access to domestic, regional and global investment solutions. As part of ING Group's global asset management network, ING IM U.S. has access to local knowledge, manufacturing and delivery of investment solutions worldwide in key global markets.

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.

Please log on to www.ingfunds.com in order to view the prospectus and to obtain historical performance when available.

Investors should consider the Fund's investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses carefully before investing. An investment in the Fund is not appropriate for all investors and is not intended to be a complete investment program. Investing in the Fund involves risks, including the risk that investors may receive little or no return on their investment or that they may lose part or even all of their investment. Therefore, before investing investors should carefully read the Fund's preliminary prospectus and consider carefully the risks that they assume when they invest in the Fund's common shares. The Fund is designed as a long-term investment and not as a trading vehicle.

Shares of closed-end investment companies frequently trade at a discount from their net asset value. The risk of loss due to this discount may be greater for initial investors expecting to sell their shares in a relatively short period after completion of the public offering. An investment in the Fund is not appropriate for all investors and is not designed to be a complete investment program. The Fund is newly organized with no operating history.

This document is not an offer to sell securities and is not soliciting an offer to buy securities in any jurisdiction where the offer or sale is not permitted.

Not FDIC Insured | Not NCUA/NCUSIF Insured | May lose value | No bank guarantee | No credit union guarantee

The Fund may also be subject to the following risks: No Prior History, Market Discount Risk, Investment and Market Risk, Emerging Markets and Foreign Investment Risk, Securities Market Risk, Industry Focused Risk, Geographic Focused Risk, Call Option Strategy Risk, Equity Risk, Dividend Producing Equity Securities Risk, Small-Cap and MidCapCompanies Risk, Derivatives Risk, Derivatives Regulation Risk, Distribution Risk, Tax Risk, Foreign Taxes, Management Risk, Market Disruption and Geopolitical Risk, ING Groep Restructuring, Anti-Takeover Provisions Risk, Common Stock Risk, Convertible Securities Risk, Corporate Debt Obligations Risk, Credit Risk, Illiquid Securities Risk,  Current Capital Markets Environment Risk, Debt Securities Risk, Economic Risk, Entities with No or Poor Credit Ratings Risk, Financial Market Risk, Foreign (Non-U.S.) Currency Risk, General Leverage Risk, Inflation Risk, International Sanctions Risk, Exchange-Traded Funds Risk, Interest Rate Risk, Investment and Repatriation Restrictions Risk, Issuer Risk, Below Investment Grade Risk and Unrated Securities Risk, Portfolio Turnover Risk, Preferred Stock Risk, Risk of Investing in Other Investment Companies Risk, IPOs Risk, Depositary Receipts Risk, Sub-Custody Risk, No Temporary Defensive Positions Risk, Securities Lending Risk and Short Sales Risk. For a complete listing of all the Fund's risks, with their descriptions, please refer to the "Risks" section of the Fund's prospectus. To obtain a prospectus, please call ING Investments Distributor, LLC at (800) 992-0180 or at www.ingfunds.com.

The Fund's shares do not represent a deposit or obligation of, and are not guaranteed or endorsed by, any bank or other insured depository institution, and are not insured by the FDIC, the Federal Reserve Board or any other government agency. You may lose money by investing in common shares of the Fund.

Important legal information

Certain of the statements contained herein are statements of future expectations and other forward-looking statements. These expectations are based on management's current views and assumptions and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties. Actual results, performance or events may differ materially from those in such statements due to, among other things, (i) general economic conditions, in particular economic conditions in ING's core markets, (ii) performance of financial markets, including emerging markets, (iii) the frequency and severity of insured loss events, (iv) mortality and morbidity levels and trends, (v) persistency levels, (vi) interest rate levels, (vii) currency exchange rates (viii) general competitive factors, (ix) changes in laws and regulations, (x) changes in the policies of governments and/or regulatory authorities, (XI) conclusions with regard to purchase accounting assumptions and methodologies, (XII) ING's ability to achieve projected operational synergies. ING assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking information contained in this document.

SOURCE ING Investment Management U.S.