Exhibit (h)(32)
RESTATED EXPENSE LIMITATION AGREEMENT
ING EQUITY TRUST
This RESTATED EXPENSE LIMITATION AGREEMENT (this "Agreement"), by and
between ING Investments, LLC (the "Investment Manager") and ING Equity Trust
(the "Registrant") effective this 1st day of August, 2003, restates the Amended
and Restated Expense Limitation Agreement dated September 23, 2002 between
Investment Manager, Aeltus Investment Management, Inc. and the Registrant. If
the Registrant is a series fund investment company, then the Registrant is
entering into this Agreement on behalf of, and this Agreement shall apply to,
each series of the Registrant set forth on Schedule A hereto (each a "Fund,"
collectively the "Funds"), as such schedule may be amended from time to time to
add or delete series. If the Registrant is not a series fund investment company,
then this Agreement shall apply to the Registrant, and the use of the terms
"Fund" or "Funds" herein shall refer to the Registrant.
WHEREAS, the Registrant is registered under the Investment Company Act of
1940, as amended (the "1940 Act"), as an open-end management company; and
WHEREAS, the Registrant and the Investment Manager desire that the
provisions of this Agreement do not adversely affect a Fund's status as a
"regulated investment company" under Subchapter M of the Internal Revenue Code
of 1986, as amended (the "Code"), do not interfere with a Fund's ability to
compute its taxable income under Code Section 852, do not adversely affect the
status of the distributions a Fund makes as deductible dividends under Code
Section 562, and do comply with the requirements of Revenue Procedure 99-40 (or
any successor pronouncement of the Internal Revenue Service); and
WHEREAS, the Registrant and the Investment Manager have entered into an
investment management agreement (the "Management Agreement"), pursuant to which
the Investment Manager provides investment advisory services to each Fund; and
WHEREAS, the Registrant and the Investment Manager have determined that it
is appropriate and in the best interests of the Funds and their shareholders to
maintain the expenses of each Fund at a level below the level to which each
such Fund might otherwise be subject.
NOW, THEREFORE, the parties hereto agree as follows:
1. Expense Limitation.
1.1 Applicable Expense Limit. To the extent that the ordinary operating
expenses, including but not limited to investment advisory fees payable to the
Investment Manager, but excluding interest, taxes, other investment-related
costs, leverage expenses (as defined below), extraordinary expenses such as
litigation, other expenses not incurred in the ordinary course of such Fund's
business, and expenses of any counsel or other persons or services retained by
such Fund's trustees who are not "interested persons," as that term is defined
in the 1940 Act, of the Investment Manager (the "Fund Operating Expenses"),
incurred by a class of a Fund listed on Schedule A in any fiscal year exceed the
Operating Expense Limit, as defined in Section 1.2
below, for such class for such fiscal year, such excess amount (the "Excess
Amount") shall be the liability of the Investment Manager. For the purposes of
this Agreement, leverage expenses shall mean fees, costs and expenses incurred
by a Fund's use of leverage (including, without limitation, expenses incurred
by a Fund in creating, establishing and maintaining leverage through borrowings
or the issuance of preferred shares).
1.2 Operating Expense Limit. The Operating Expense Limit in any fiscal
year with respect to each class of a Fund shall be the amount specified in
Schedule A.
1.3 Daily Computation. The Investment Manager shall determine on each
business day whether the aggregate fiscal year to date Fund Operating Expenses
for any class of a Fund exceed the Operating Expense Limit, as such Operating
Expense Limit has been pro-rated to the date of such determination (the
"Pro-Rated Expense Cap"). If, on any business day, the aggregate fiscal year to
date Fund Operating Expenses for any class of a Fund do not equal the Pro-Rated
Expense Cap for that class, the amount of such difference shall be netted
against the previous day's accrued amount for Excess Amounts or Recoupment
Amounts (as defined below), and the difference shall be accrued for that day as
an Excess Amount or Recoupment Amount as applicable.
1.4 Payment. At the end of each month, the accruals made pursuant to
Section 1.3 above shall be netted, and the result shall be remitted by the
Investment Manager to the Fund if such netting results in an Excess Amount, and
it shall be remitted to the Investment Manager if such netting results in a
Recoupment Amount and the Investment Manager is entitled to a Recoupment Amount
pursuant to Section 2.1 below. Any such amounts remitted to a Fund, or repaid
by a Fund, shall be allocated among the classes of the Fund in accordance with
the terms of the Fund's Multiple Class Plan Pursuant to Rule 18f-3 under the
1940 Act. The Registrant may offset amounts owed to a Fund pursuant to this
Agreement against the Fund's advisory fee payable to the Investment Manager.
2. Right to Recoupment. If the Investment Manager has waived or reduced any
investment advisory fees, or made any payments pursuant to Section 1.4 above,
relating to any of the 36 months immediately preceding any month end calculation
pursuant to Section 1.4 above, the Investment Manager shall be entitled to
recoup from a Fund any such investment advisory fees waived or reduced and any
such payments made (collectively, a "Recoupment Amount"), if (i) on the date of
any calculation under Section 1.3, the aggregate fiscal year to date Fund
Operating Expenses for any class of a Fund are less than that day's Pro-Rated
Expense Cap for that class, and (ii) such Recoupment Amounts have not already
been recouped. Any amounts recouped from a class of a Fund shall be recouped in
accordance with the principles of the Fund's Multiple Class Plan Pursuant to
Rule 18f-3 under the 1940 Act. Amounts recouped shall be allocated to the oldest
Recoupment Amounts during such 36-month period until fully recouped, and
thereafter to the next oldest Recoupment Amounts, and so forth.
3. Term and Termination. This Agreement shall have an initial term with
respect to each Fund ending on the date indicated on Schedule A, as such
schedule may be amended from time to time. Thereafter, this Agreement shall
automatically renew for one-year terms with respect to a Fund unless the
Investment Manager provides written notice of the termination of
this Agreement to a lead Independent Trustee of the Registrant within 90 days
of the end of the then current term for that Fund. In addition, this Agreement
shall terminate with respect to a Fund upon termination of the Management
Agreement with respect to such Fund, or it may be terminated by the Registrant,
without payment of any penalty, upon written notice to the Investment Manager
at its principal place of business within 90 days of the end of the then
current term for a Fund.
4. Miscellaneous.
4.1 Captions. The captions in this Agreement are included for
convenience of reference only and in no other way define or delineate any of
the provisions hereof or otherwise affect their construction or effect.
4.2 Interpretation. Nothing herein shall be deemed to require the
Registrant or a Fund to take any action contrary to the Registrant's articles
of incorporation, declaration of trust, or similar governing document, an
applicable prospectus or statement of additional information, or any applicable
statutory or regulatory requirement, or to relieve or deprive the Registrant's
Board of Trustees of its responsibility for and control of the conduct of the
affairs of the Registrant or the Funds.
4.3 Definitions. Any question of interpretation of any term or provision
of this Agreement, including but not limited to the investment management fee,
the computations of net asset values, and the allocation of expenses, having a
counterpart in or otherwise derived from the terms and provisions of the
Management Agreement or the 1940 Act, shall have the same meaning as and be
resolved by reference to such Management Agreement or the 1940 Act.
4.4 Amendments. This Agreement may be amended only by a written
agreement signed by each of the parties hereto.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the parties have caused this Agreement to be signed by
their respective officers thereunto duly authorized, as of the day and year
first above written.
ING EQUITY TRUST ING INVESTMENTS, LLC
By: /s/ Xxxxxx X. Naka By: /s/ Xxxxxxx X. Xxxxxx
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Name: Xxxxxx X. Naka Name: Xxxxxxx X. Xxxxxx
Title: Senior Vice President Title: Executive Vice President
