ING Alternative Asset Management LLC Appointed Manager for Three Collateralized Loan Obligations

NEW YORK, Feb. 10 /PRNewswire/ -- ING announced today that it has been appointed as the successor collateral manager for three collateralized loan obligations ("CLOs") previously managed by Avenue Capital Management II, LP. The CLOs are Avenue CLO IV, Ltd., with $378 million in assets, Avenue CLO V, Ltd., with $622 million in assets, and Avenue CLO VI, Ltd., with $472 million in assets. ING Alternative Asset Management LLC ("IAAM"), a registered investment adviser, assumed the collateral management responsibility for Avenue CLO V, Ltd. and Avenue CLO VI, Ltd. effective Jan. 29, 2010, and for Avenue CLO IV, Ltd. effective February 9, 2010.

The CLOs will be managed by ING's Senior Loan Group, a part of ING Investment Management. ING's Senior Loan Group is headquartered in Scottsdale, Ariz., with an office in London, U.K., and consists of 27 investment professionals and 18 treasury, operations and legal support personnel. ING's Senior Loan Group manages $10 billion in senior loan commitments across a variety of portfolios, including two U.S. registered mutual funds, a Luxembourg SICAV, a U.S. collective trust for pension plans, and eight CLOs, including the three Avenue CLOs for which it has now assumed management responsibility. ING's Senior Loan Group is led by Group Heads Jeff Bakalar and Dan Norman, and invests exclusively in the senior loan asset class.

"Structured product management is an integral part of our business strategy at ING Investment Management," said Mark Weber, Executive Vice President and Head of Investment Solutions for ING Investment Management Americas. "Our Senior Loan Group is a large platform manager in the asset class and has significant CLO management expertise."

"We are honored to have been selected by the investors to assume management of these portfolios," said Norman. "As a global manager of senior loan products, we have committed significant resources to all aspects of this business. Our investment platform is scalable, and we look forward to providing a high level of service to our new clients."

About ING Investment Management

ING Investment Management is a leading asset manager and one of the world's largest real estate investors. As of September 30, 2009, we manage approximately euro 414 billion of assets for institutions and individual investors worldwide, and we serve as the principal asset manager of ING Group, the global financial services company. With over 5,000 employees and investment professionals locally based in 35 countries across the Americas, Asia-Pacific, Europe and the Middle East, ING Investment Management provides clients with access to domestic, regional and global investment solutions.

ING

ING is a global financial institution of Dutch origin offering banking, investments, life insurance and retirement services to over 85 million private, corporate and institutional clients in more than 40 countries. With a diverse workforce of about 110,000 people, ING is dedicated to setting the standard in helping our clients manage their financial future.

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