ING Corporate Leaders Trust Marks 75th Anniversary, Achieves Strong Rankings

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Feb 03, 2011, 10:30 ET

NEW YORK, Feb. 3, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- ING Corporate Leaders Trust Fund recently marked its 75th anniversary and has stood the test of time by achieving high ratings.

The $425-million fund celebrated its 75th year on November 18, 2010. As of December 31, 2010, ING Corporate Leaders Trust Fund Series B (LEXCX) had achieved the following:

A five star overall ranking by Morningstar out of 1,120 funds in the Large Value category. Morningstar has rated the fund as having "Below Average" risk for the three, five, and ten-year periods, indicating that the fund has delivered top-ranked returns with lower downside volatility than the market.
Ranked #1 based on one year performance according to the Wall Street Journal's ranking of Large-Cap Value Equity Funds.

The fund is a grantor trust that employs a rules-based management approach, currently investing in shares of 21 US blue-chip stocks. The fund was created in 1935 with an equal number of common stock shares of the 30 leading dividend-paying companies listed on the NYSE. The only changes to the portfolio's equity composition result from mergers or spinoffs. The fund does not add any new securities to the portfolio and allocates new money as equal number of shares in existing companies.

As a result, the portfolio holdings are direct descendants of the leading companies purchased in 1935. The most recent addition is Berkshire Hathaway, Inc., which occurred February 2010 when Berkshire bought Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation. Berkshire represented 10.7% of the fund as of 12/31/10.

"Corporate Leaders Trust represents a way to gain exposure to some of the best run companies in the world. The portfolio does not change its course or time sector shifts in response to market moves," said Chris Corapi, CIO of Equities at ING Investment Management. "It can be considered a core portfolio holding that offers both growth and income, owing to its focus on owning a diverse array of quality, large-cap stocks, many of which also offer a dividend."

ING Corporate Leaders Trust Fund Series B is sponsored by ING Investments, LLC, an affiliate of ING Investment Management and a subsidiary of ING Groep N.V., and has a minimum investment of $1,000.

For more information on the Fund or on how to invest, visit www.ingfunds.com or call 800 992 0180.

About ING Investment Management

ING Investment Management is the primary investment arm of ING Group and one of the largest global investment managers with over $500 billion in assets under management across more than 30 countries. ING Investment Management's broad array of investment strategies, combined with ING Group's distribution capabilities across retail and institutional channels, enables the organization to offer an integrated financial services solution for all of its clients around the world. In the Americas, ING-IM manages over $222 billion with offices in the U.S., Canada and Latin America.

Past performance does not guarantee future results. For each fund with at least a three-year history, Morningstar calculates a Morningstar Rating™ based on a Morningstar Risk-Adjusted Return measure that accounts for variation in a fund's monthly performance (including the effects of sales charges, loads, and redemption fees), placing more emphasis on downward variations and rewarding consistent performance. The top 10% of funds in each category receive 5 stars, the next 22.5% receive 4 stars, the next 35% receive 3 stars, the next 22.5% receive 2 stars and the bottom 10% receive 1 star. (Each share class is counted as a fraction of one fund within this scale and rated separately, which may cause slight variations in the distribution percentages.)

The Overall Morningstar Rating for a fund is derived from a weighted-average of the performance figures associated with its three-, five- and ten-year (if applicable) Morningstar Rating metrics. Morningstar Rating is for the A share class only; other classes may have different performance characteristics.

SOURCE ING Americas