ING Real Estate's China Opportunity Fund Raises US$350 Million

ING Real Estate's China Opportunity Fund Raises US$350 Million

December 21, 2006

    HONG KONG and SHANGHAI, China, Dec. 20
/Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- ING Real 
Estate today announced that the ING Real Estate China
Opportunity Fund L.P. 
("Fund" or "COF") has raised a total of
US$350 million from leading 
international institutional investors from Asia, Australia,
Europe, Middle 
East and the US, as well as from high-net worth individuals
through ING 
Private Banking. 

    The COF is a private, closed-end, total return fund. 
Its investment 
objective is to invest in opportunistic projects with a
focus on mid-range 
local housing developments in first and second tier cities
in China.  The 
majority of the Fund's investment activities will be
executed through joint 
ventures with high quality local Chinese developers with
established track 
records in China.

    To date, the portfolio of the COF comprises a
mixed-development joint 
venture with Shanghai Forte Land in the Hong Kou district
of Shanghai, as 
well as two local housing projects in joint venture with
Raycom International 
in Changsha, the capital city of Hunan Province in the
south of central 
China.   In addition, a joint venture for a housing
development with Gemdale 
Corporation in Tianjin is awaiting government approval. 
Shanghai Forte is 
the largest developer in Shanghai and Raycom is the real
estate arm of Legend 
Holdings that owns the Lenovo/IBM brand of personal
computers.  

    Robert Lie, Chief Executive Officer of ING Real Estate
Investment 
Management Asia said, "We are very pleased with the
response of international 
investors to our new fund.  It underscores our belief that,
despite the 
austerity measures announced by the Chinese central
government in May and 
August of this year, aimed at cooling the real estate
market in China, our 
strategy of focusing on local housing in first and second
tier cities in 
China in partnership with local developers is the correct
one."

    Richard van den Berg, Portfolio Manager and Country
Manager China 
said, "ING Real Estate has been operating in China for
over ten years, 
developing a strong track record as well as building a
solid local network.  
The successful closing of the fund demonstrates our
co-investors share ING 
Real Estate's confidence and investment approach in the
Chinese real estate 
market." 

    ING Real Estate is an international real estate company
active in real 
estate investment management, development and finance. 
With a total business 
portfolio of US$103 billion as of 30 September, 2006 and
offices in 21 
markets in Europe, the United States, Asia and Australia,
ING Real Estate 
ranks among the world's strongest real estate companies.

    ING Real Estate is part of ING Group, 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.


    For more information, please contact: 

     Karen Williams
     Tel:   [phone]
     Email: [e-mail]  

     Wieger Sietsma
     Tel:   [phone]
     Email: [e-mail] 

     Suzanne Franks
     Tel:   [phone]
     Email: [e-mail]


SOURCE  ING Real Estate