Today, the Dutch State announces its intention to continue a competitive auction process to sell the non-agency residential mortgage backed securities (RMBS) underlying the ING Illiquid Assets Back-up Facility (IABF). The Dutch State Treasury Agency (DSTA) will be responsible for the sale on behalf of the Dutch State.

The decision of the Dutch State to continue with the sale of the portfolio is based on the continued improvement in the US housing market and a high level of interest by investors for non-agency RMBS securities. While the DSTA expects, as indicated earlier, that it will be able to divest the assets within a period of 12 months, there will be no fixed deadline for completion of the sale of the portfolio. The DSTA reserves the right to postpone any sale, should market circumstances change.

BlackRock Solutions will be responsible for the execution of the sale of the securities on behalf of the DSTA. The sale will take place via a competitive auction process through a number of selected broker-dealers. Reverse inquiries of at least US$ 2.5 billion notional are accepted. A short-list of broker-dealers will be selected for an auction based on the competitiveness of their respective reverse inquiry bids.

All reverse inquiries should be sent to: IABFinquiries@blackrock.com. Please visit the DSTA website for additional information: http://www.dsta.nl/english/Subjects/IABF.

In the interest of supporting a transparent and competitive auction process, the DSTA will periodically release public announcements pertaining to developments regarding the wind down of the IABF on its website.

Dutch State Treasury Agency
Steef Akerboom
+31 70 342 4099