ING New Zealand recommends managed wind up

Auckland, 10 December 2008

ING New Zealand recommends managed wind up for DYF and RIF
$100 million cash to be made available to investors

ING New Zealand today announced that given the on-going difficult market conditions the company is recommending to the Trustee that the ING Diversified Yield Fund (DYF) and the ING Regular Income Fund (RIF) should be wound up over an extended period of time.

In connection with the managed wind up of the funds, ING’s shareholders have approved a $100 million loan to the funds to provide investors with cash immediately.

“Investors have told us they would like to see a path out of suspension for these funds.” said Helen Troup, CEO of ING New Zealand. “While we can’t control the markets or change what has happened to date, we are looking to provide an alternative that would give investors clear direction going forward as well as access to some of their money in the short term,” Troup continued.
The non-recourse loan would be made available to the funds at favourable commercial terms, and would have to be paid back before the cash generated through the wind up would be returned to investors.

A unitholder meeting will be held before 31 March 2009 where unitholders will be asked to approve changes to the Funds’ trust deeds to allow this managed wind up to occur.

“The cash option that ING will be proposing is aimed at helping investors as we sell assets over an extended timeframe. It does not reflect the level of any final returns to investors,” Troup said. “Although a formal offer cannot be made until we have the detailed terms, we wanted to announce our plan as soon as we could.”

Assuming the Trustee accepts the recommendation, all the details about the proposed wind up options including the relevant terms and conditions will be provided as part of an information pack and sent to investors over the coming months. The information will include a third party report to help investors make an informed choice.

Investors and advisers will be sent communications next week advising them of the current status of both Funds and the process expected to be followed from here.

ENDS

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