Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 55 / Tuesday, March 24, 2009 / Notices 12407 

consideration of the matter raised in 

each docket. 

2. Pursuant to 39 U.S.C. 505, Paul L. 

Harrington is appointed to serve as 

officer of the Commission (Public 

Representative) to represent the 

interests of the general public in these 

proceedings. 

3. Comments by interested persons in 

these proceedings are due no later than 

March 25, 2009. 

4. The Secretary shall arrange for 

publication of this order in the Federal 

Register. 

By the Commission. 

Steven W. Williams, 

Secretary. 

[FR Doc. E9–6419 Filed 3–23–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 7710–FW–P 

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE 

COMMISSION 

Proposed Collection; Comment 

Request 

Upon Written Request; Copies Available 

From: Securities and Exchange 

Commission, Office of Investor 

Education and Advocacy, 

Washington, DC 20549–0213. 

Extension: 

Rule 23c–1; SEC File No. 270–253; OMB 

Control No. 3235–0260. 

Notice is hereby given that, pursuant 

to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 

(44 U.S.C. 3501–3520), the Securities 

and Exchange Commission (the 

‘‘Commission’’) is soliciting comments 

on the collection of information 

summarized below. The Commission 

plans to submit this existing collection 

of information to the Office of 

Management and Budget for extension 

and approval. 

Rule 23c–1 (17 CFR 270.23c–1) under 

the Investment Company Act of 1940 

(15 U.S.C. 80a), among other things, 

permits a closed-end fund to repurchase 

its securities for cash if in addition to 

the other requirements set forth in the 

rule: (i) Payment of the purchase price 

is accompanied or preceded by a written 

confirmation of the purchase; (ii) the 

asset coverage per unit of the security to 

be purchased is disclosed to the seller 

or his agent; and (iii) if the security is 

a stock, the fund has, within the 

preceding six months, informed 

stockholders of its intention to purchase 

stock. Commission staff estimates that 

approximately 36 closed-end funds rely 

on Rule 23c–1 annually to undertake 

324 repurchases of their securities. 

Commission staff estimates that, on 

average, a fund spends 2.5 hours to 

comply with the paperwork 

requirements listed above each time it 

undertakes a security repurchase under 

the rule. Commission staff thus 

estimates the total annual burden of the 

rule’s paperwork requirements is 810 

hours. 

In addition, the fund must file with 

the Commission a copy of any written 

solicitation to purchase securities given 

by or on behalf of the fund to 10 or more 

persons. The copy must be filed as an 

exhibit to Form N–CSR (17 CFR 249.331 

and 274.128). The burden associated 

with filing Form N–CSR is addressed in 

the submission related to that form. 

The estimate of average burden hours 

is made solely for the purposes of the 

Paperwork Reduction Act, and is not 

derived from a comprehensive or even 

a representative survey or study of the 

costs of Commission rules and forms. 

Written comments are invited on: (a) 

Whether the collection of information is 

necessary for the proper performance of 

the functions of the Commission, 

including whether the information has 

practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the 

Commission’s estimate of the burden of 

the collection of information; (c) ways to 

enhance the quality, utility, and clarity 

of the information collected; and (d) 

ways to minimize the burden of the 

collection of information on 

respondents, including through the use 

of automated collection techniques or 

other forms of information technology. 

Consideration will be given to 

comments and suggestions submitted in 

writing within 60 days of this 

publication. 

Please direct your written comments 

to Charles Boucher, Director/CIO, 

Securities and Exchange Commission, 

C/O Shirley Martinson, 6432 General 

Green Way, Alexandria, VA 22312; or 

send an e-mail to: 

PRA_Mailbox@sec.gov. 

Dated: March 18, 2009. 

Florence E. Harmon, 

Deputy Secretary. 

[FR Doc. E9–6406 Filed 3–23–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 8010–01–P 

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE 

COMMISSION 

[Investment Company Act Release No. 

28650; 812–13538] 

ING Investments, LLC, et al.; Notice of 

Application 

March 17, 2008. 

AGENCY: Securities and Exchange 

Commission (‘‘Commission’’). 

ACTION: Notice of an application under 

section 6(c) of the Investment Company 

Act of 1940 (‘‘Act’’) for an exemption 

from rule 12d1–2(a) under the Act. 

SUMMARY OF APPLICATION: Applicants 

request an order to permit funds of 

funds relying on rule 12d1–2 under the 

Act to invest in certain financial 

instruments. 

Applicants: ING Investments, LLC 

(‘‘IIL’’), Directed Services, LLC (‘‘DSL’’), 

ING Investment Management Co. 

(‘‘IIM’’), ING Funds Distributor, LLC 

(‘‘IFD’’) and ING Investors Trust, ING 

Partners, Inc., ING Mutual Funds, ING 

Series Funds, Inc., and ING Strategic 

Allocation Portfolios, Inc. (collectively, 

the ‘‘Trusts’’). 

Filing Dates: The application was 

filed on June 4, 2008, and amended on 

March 13, 2009. 

Hearing or Notification of Hearing: An 

order granting the application will be 

issued unless the Commission orders a 

hearing. Interested persons may request 

a hearing by writing to the 

Commission’s Secretary and serving 

applicants with a copy of the request, 

personally or by mail. Hearing requests 

should be received by the Commission 

by 5:30 p.m. on April 13, 2009 and 

should be accompanied by proof of 

service on applicants, in the form of an 

affidavit or, for lawyers, a certificate of 

service. Hearing requests should state 

the nature of the writer’s interest, the 

reason for the request, and the issues 

contested. Persons who wish to be 

notified of a hearing may request 

notification by writing to the 

Commission’s Secretary. 

ADDRESSES: Secretary, Securities and 

Exchange Commission, 100 F Street, 

NE., Washington, DC 20549–1090; 

Applicants, c/o Huey P. Falgout, Jr., ING 

Investments, LLC, 7337 E. Doubletree 

Ranch Road, Scottsdale, AZ 85258. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Lewis Reich, Senior Counsel, at (202) 

551–6919, or Janet M. Grossnickle, 

Assistant Director, at (202) 551–6821 

(Division of Investment Management, 

Office of Investment Company 

Regulation). 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

following is a summary of the 

application. The complete application 

may be obtained for a fee at the 

Commission’s Public Reference Room, 

100 F Street, NE., Washington, DC 

20549–1520 (telephone (202) 551–5850). 

Applicants’ Representations 

1. ING Investors Trust is organized as 

a Massachusetts business trust. ING 

Mutual Funds is organized as a 

Delaware statutory trust. Each of the 

other Trusts is organized as a Maryland 

corporation. Each Trust is registered 

mstockstill on PROD1PC66 with NOTICES

12408 Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 55 / Tuesday, March 24, 2009 / Notices 

1Every existing entity that currently intends to 

rely on the requested order is named as an 

applicant. Any existing or future entity that relies 

on the order in the future will do so only in 

accordance with the terms and condition in the 

application. 

1 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(1). 

2 17 CFR 240.19b–4. 

under the Act as an open-end 

management investment company. Each 

of IIL, DSL and IIM and is registered as 

an investment adviser under the 

Investment Advisers Act of 1940, as 

amended, and currently serves as an 

investment adviser or sub-adviser to 

existing series of the Trust. IFD, a 

Delaware corporation, is registered as a 

broker-dealer under the Securities 

Exchange Act of 1934, as amended 

(‘‘Exchange Act’’). IFD currently serves 

as the distributor of the existing series 

of the Trust. The Trusts and each 

existing or future registered open-end 

management investment company or 

series thereof that is in the same group 

of investment companies, as defined in 

section 12(d)(1)(G)(ii) of the Act, as the 

Trusts and that is advised by IIL, DSL 

or IIM or any entity controlling, 

controlled by or under common control 

with IIL, DSL or IIM (the ‘‘Advisers’’), 

together with series of the Trusts are 

referred to as the ‘‘Funds.’’ Applicants 

request the exemption to the extent 

necessary to permit any Fund that may 

invest in other funds in reliance on 

Section 12(d)(1)(G) of the Act, and 

which is also eligible to invest in 

securities (as defined in section 2(a)(36) 

of the Act) in reliance on rule 12d1–2 

under the Act, to also invest, to the 

extent consistent with its investment 

objective, policies, strategies and 

limitations, in financial instruments that 

may not be securities within the 

meaning of section 2(a)(36) of the Act 

(‘‘Other Investments’’).1

2. Consistent with its fiduciary 

obligations under the Act, each Fund’s 

board of trustees or directors will review 

the advisory fees charged by the Fund’s 

investment adviser to ensure that they 

are based on services provided that are 

in addition to, rather than duplicative 

of, services provided pursuant to the 

advisory agreement of any investment 

company in which the Fund may invest. 

Applicants’ Legal Analysis 

1. Section 12(d)(1)(A) of the Act 

provides that no registered investment 

company (‘‘acquiring company’’) may 

acquire securities of another investment 

company (‘‘acquired company’’) if such 

securities represent more than 3% of the 

acquired company’s outstanding voting 

stock or more than 5% of the acquiring 

company’s total assets, or if such 

securities, together with the securities of 

other investment companies, represent 

more than 10% of the acquiring 

company’s total assets. Section 

12(d)(1)(B) of the Act provides that no 

registered open-end investment 

company may sell its securities to 

another investment company if the sale 

will cause the acquiring company to 

own more than 3% of the acquired 

company’s voting stock, or cause more 

than 10% of the acquired company’s 

voting stock to be owned by investment 

companies. 

2. Section 12(d)(1)(G) of the Act 

provides that section 12(d)(1) will not 

apply to securities of an acquired 

company purchased by an acquiring 

company if: (i) the acquiring company 

and acquired company are part of the 

same group of investment companies; 

(ii) the acquiring company holds only 

securities of acquired companies that 

are part of the same group of investment 

companies, government securities, and 

short-term paper; (iii) the aggregate sales 

loads and distribution-related fees of the 

acquiring company and the acquired 

company are not excessive under rules 

adopted pursuant to section 22(b) or 

section 22(c) of the Act by a securities 

association registered under section 15A 

of the Exchange Act or by the 

Commission; and (iv) the acquired 

company has a policy that prohibits it 

from acquiring securities of registered 

open-end management investment 

companies or registered unit investment 

trusts in reliance on section 12(d)(1)(F) 

or (G) of the Act. 

3. Rule 12d1–2 under the Act permits 

a registered open-end investment 

company or a registered unit investment 

trust that relies on section 12(d)(1)(G) of 

the Act to acquire, in addition to 

securities issued by another registered 

investment company in the same group 

of investment companies, government 

securities, and short-term paper: (1) 

Securities issued by an investment 

company that is not in the same group 

of investment companies, when the 

acquisition is in reliance on section 

12(d)(1)(A) or 12(d)(1)(F) of the Act; (2) 

securities (other than securities issued 

by an investment company); and (3) 

securities issued by a money market 

fund, when the investment is in reliance 

on rule 12d1–1 under the Act. For the 

purposes of rule 12d1–2, ‘‘securities’’ 

means any security as defined in section 

2(a)(36) of the Act. 

4. Section 6(c) of the Act provides that 

the Commission may exempt any 

person, security, or transaction from any 

provision of the Act, or from any rule 

under the Act, if such exemption is 

necessary or appropriate in the public 

interest and consistent with the 

protection of investors and the purposes 

fairly intended by the policies and 

provisions of the Act. 

5. Applicants state that the proposed 

arrangement would comply with the 

provisions of rule 12d1–2 under the Act, 

but for the fact that the Funds may 

invest a portion of their assets in Other 

Investments. Applicants request an 

order under section 6(c) of the Act for 

an exemption from rule 12d1–2(a) to 

allow the Funds to invest in Other 

Investments. Applicants assert that 

permitting the Funds to invest in Other 

Investments as described in the 

application would not raise any of the 

concerns that the requirements of 

section 12(d)(1) were designed to 

address. 

Applicants’ Condition 

Applicants agree that the order 

granting the requested relief will be 

subject to the following condition: 

Applicants will comply with all 

provisions of rule 12d1–2 under the Act, 

except for paragraph (a)(2) to the extent 

that it restricts any Fund from investing 

in Other Investments as described in the 

application. 

For the Commission, by the Division of 

Investment Management, under delegated 

authority. 

Florence E. Harmon, 

Deputy Secretary. 

[FR Doc. E9–6391 Filed 3–23–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 8010–01–P 

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE 

COMMISSION 

[Release No. 34–59589; File No. SR–BX– 

2009–016] 

Self-Regulatory Organizations; 

NASDAQ OMX BX, Inc.; Notice of Filing 

and Immediate Effectiveness of 

Proposed Rule Change Relating to the 

$1 Strike Price Program on the Boston 

Options Exchange Facility 

March 17, 2009. 

Pursuant to Section 19(b)(1) of the 

Securities Exchange Act of 1934 

(‘‘Act’’),1 and Rule 19b–4 thereunder,2

notice is hereby given that on March 16, 

2009, NASDAQ OMX BX, Inc. (the 

‘‘Exchange’’) filed with the Securities 

and Exchange Commission 

(‘‘Commission’’) the proposed rule 

change as described in Items I and II 

below, which Items have been prepared 

by the self-regulatory organization. The 

Commission is publishing this notice to 

solicit comments on the proposed rule 

from interested persons. 

mstockstill on PROD1PC66 with NOTICES