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.