ING Raises $162.5 Million in IPO for the ING International High Dividend Equity Income Fund

ING today announced the launch of the ING International High Dividend Equity Income Fund (the "Fund"), a non- diversified closed-end fund that invests primarily in a portfolio of high- dividend-yielding international equity securities.

ING International High Dividend Equity Income Fund raised $162.5 million in an initial public offering, where Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Inc. acted as sole book runner and lead manager, and Wachovia Capital Markets, LLC 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 "IID".

"We are very pleased the financial advisers and their clients recognized the unique international investment opportunities offered by IID," 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 international exposure while focusing on high-dividend-yielding equity securities. IID is built upon ING's strong lineage in high-dividend investing and a great example of how ING is able to leverage global investment professionals across Europe, Asia Pacific and the Americas."

The Fund is managed by ING Investments, LLC and draws upon a team of experienced investment professionals at ING Investment Management Co., the Fund's sub-adviser, and the Fund's sub-sub-advisers ING Investment Management Advisors B.V. and ING Investment Management Asia/Pacific (Hong Kong) Ltd. The investment management team is led by Uri Landesman, Senior Vice President and Head of International Equities and Martin Jansen, Senior Portfolio Manager, who are responsible for the overall portfolio construction of the Fund.

The Fund seeks to invest primarily in dividend-producing equity securities of Foreign Companies, which are companies that are listed and principally traded in securities trading markets outside the United States; or alone or on a consolidated basis derive 50% or more of their annual revenues from either goods produced, sales made or services performed in a country outside the United States. The Fund seeks to construct a portfolio with a dividend yield that exceeds the dividend yield of the MSCI AC (All Countries) ex USA Index.* As part of its strategy, the Fund intends to employ a strategy of writing (selling) call options on selected international, regional or country indices, and/or on equity securities, with the underlying value of such calls having 20% to 50% of the value of its holdings of equity securities, although this percentage may vary depending on market conditions. At the Fund's inception, it is anticipated that the underlying value of the written call options will be approximately 30% to 35% of the value of the Fund's 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 June 30, 2007, ING Investments, LLC managed approximately $54.6 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 120,000 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) ex USA Index(SM) is a market capitalization weighted index composed of approximately 2000 companies. It is representative of the market structure of countries in North America, Europe and the Pacific Rim, and excludes securities of U.S. issuers. The index is unmanaged and does not reflect the deduction of management fees and expenses. It is not possible to directly invest in an index.

Principal Risk Factors:

Foreign Investment and Emerging Market Risk- Foreign investments may be subject to greater risk than United States investments for many reasons, including changes in currency exchange rates and unstable political, social and economic conditions, which may significantly disrupt the financial markets or interfere with the Fund's ability to enforce its rights against foreign issuers. Foreign (non-United States) investments may also be subject to risks of a lack of adequate or accurate company information, smaller, less liquid and more volatile securities markets, less secure foreign banks or securities depositories than those in the United States and foreign controls on investment and currency transfers. To the extent that the Fund invests in emerging markets, the risk of foreign investing may be greater, as these countries may be less politically and economically stable than other countries. It may also be more difficult to buy and sell securities in countries with emerging 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.