For Immediate Release 99-111 Van Kampen Investment Advisory Corp. and Former Senior Official Censured and Fined for Disclosure Violations Regarding "Incubator" Growth Fund Chicago, IL, September 8, 1999 -- The Securities and Exchange Commission today censured and fined the Van Kampen Investment Advisory Corp. and Alan Sachtleben, its former Chief Investment Officer, for failing to disclose material facts concerning the impact of hot IPOs on their "incubator" Growth Fund's 1996 performance. This is the first case of its kind brought by the Commission. Without admitting or denying the Commission's findings, Van Kampen and Sachtleben agreed to be censured, to cease and desist from violating the antifraud and reporting provisions of the federal securities laws, and to pay $100,000 and $25,000 civil penalties, respectively. SEC Enforcement Director Richard H. Walker said, "This enforcement action -- the first of its kind -- demonstrates that it is wrong to raise shareholder expectations of future gains by advertising spectacular past returns when it is highly unlikely those returns can be sustained as the fund grows in size." The Commission's order finds that, during 1996, the Growth Fund was an "incubator fund" whose shares were not generally available to the public for investment and had net assets of $200,000 to $380,000. From February 3, 1997 through March 14, 1997, when the Growth Fund was open to the public and grew to $109 million, Van Kampen publicly advertised that the Growth Fund achieved a 61.99 percent return and was the number one fund in its category for 1996 according to Lipper, but did not disclose that IPOs had a large impact on the Growth Fund's 1996 return. More than 50 percent of the Growth Fund's 1996 return was attributable to its investments in hot IPOs. However, given the growth in the Growth Fund's total assets, it was questionable whether the fund could continue to experience, by investing in hot IPOs, substantially similar performance as the fund had previously experienced. The Commission's order further finds that Sachtleben: directed a study in January 1997, which showed that IPOs accounted for approximately one-third of the Growth Fund's performance; knew that the performance figures were going to be advertised; and did not tell the Trustees of the Growth Fund or senior officers of Van Kampen about the study or its results. Van Kampen Investment Advisory Corp. is headquartered in Oakbrook, Illinois, and Alan Sachtleben is a resident of Houston, Texas. For further information, call Amy E. Gibson at (312) 886- 1647, James A. Davidson at (312) 353-7420, or Jeannette Lewis at (312) 353-7410. # # #