NEW YORK, Oct. 25 /PRNewswire/ -- ING today announced the launch of the ING Risk Managed Natural Resources Fund (the "Fund"), a non-diversified closed-end fund that invests in a portfolio of equity securities of companies in the energy and other natural resources industries and employs an integrated options "collar" strategy. The Fund's investment objective is total return through a combination of current income, capital gains and capital appreciation. The ING Risk Managed Natural Resources Fund raised $415 million in an 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 "IRR." "We are very pleased with the reception of IRR," 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 in offering an energy and resources focused equity investment in a risk managed manner through an integrated collar strategy. It seeks to respond to financial adviser and investor interest in adding natural resource equities to their portfolios with a lower volatility than other energy and natural resource sector funds.". The Fund is managed by ING Investments, LLC and draws upon a team of experienced investment professionals at ING Investment Management, the Fund's sub-adviser. The team is led Paul Zemsky, Head of Structured Products, who is responsible for the Fund's collar strategy, along with portfolio managers Jim Vail and Anthony Socci, who on average have over 29 years of experience investing in energy and other natural resources companies. Under normal market conditions, the Fund will seek to achieve its investment objective by investing at least 80% of its managed assets in the equity securities of, or derivatives linked to the equity securities of natural resources companies. Equity securities held by the Fund may include common stocks, preferred shares, convertible securities, warrants and depository receipts. Derivative investments may include swaps, futures and options on natural resources companies, resource indices and ETFs composed primarily of natural resources companies. The collar strategy seeks to partially reduce the exposure of the Fund to declines in the value of the energy and natural resources securities in its portfolio by seeking to generate capital gains in declining markets from the purchase of put options and premiums from writing call options. Put options will be financed by a portion of the premiums received by the Fund from the sale of call options. 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 Group umbrella. As of June 30, 2006, ING Investments, LLC managed over $45 billion in assets. ABOUT ING ING Group 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 the fund's investment objectives, risks, and charges and expenses carefully before investing. The prospectus contains this information and other information about the funds. 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 redeemed, may be worth more or less than their original cost. Please log on to http://www.ingfunds.com/ to obtain performance when available. Press inquiries: Tracey Gordon 212-309-1791 DATASOURCE: ING CONTACT: Tracey Gordon of ING, +1-212-309-1791, Web site: http://www.ing.com/ http://www.ingfunds.com/

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