Aim Funds to Feature World Champion Figure Skater Michelle Kwan in New Ad Campaign.

Business Editors & Sports Writers

HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 5, 2001

A I M Distributors, Inc., the retail marketing subsidiary of A I M Management Group Inc. (AIM), announced today it has signed a multi-year agreement with three-time World Figure Skating Champion Michelle Kwan. AIM is a member of the AMVESCAP Group (NYSE:AVZ), one of the world's largest independent investment services companies.

Ms. Kwan will be featured in a national television ad campaign, which will begin in March 2001, with four television spots scheduled to run across the major networks on such shows as 60 Minutes, ABC This Week and Fox News Sunday, and across cable networks on such shows as Larry King Live and Crossfire on CNN, and Intimate Portraits on Lifetime. Other cable networks scheduled to run ads are Fox News Network, A&E, CNBC, Lifetime, USA Network, Discovery, Bravo and ESPN.

"We are thrilled to have Michelle on board," said Marilyn Miller, AIM senior vice president and director of marketing. "At AIM, we believe that discipline creates unrivaled performance, and Michelle perfectly exemplifies this every day both on and off the ice."

The television ads, created by the Richards Group in Dallas, will feature Ms. Kwan skating while John Spencer of The West Wing provides the voiceover. One of the ads is a main brand version, while the other three ads include specific tags for such AIM Funds as AIM Basic Value Fund, AIM Mid Cap Equity Fund, and AIM Global Health Care Fund. The AIM campaign makes the parallel connection between the discipline of a world-class athlete like Ms. Kwan and the AIM tagline "Invest with DISCIPLINE(R)."

Ms. Kwan's skating brilliance and accomplishments have earned her a place among the all-time greats of the sport. A 20-year-old second-year student at UCLA, Kwan recently won her fifth National Championship, joining skating legends Tenley Albright, Peggy Fleming, and Janet Lynn as the only women in the modern skating era to win the U.S. Championship five times.

In her career, Ms. Kwan has won an unprecedented 35 championships, including three World Championships (1996, 1998, 2000), four consecutive and five overall National Championships (1996, 1998-2001) and the 1998 Olympic silver medal. She is the first American ladies skater to win three World titles since Ms. Fleming (1968) and the first woman in figure skating history to reclaim the world title twice.

Ms. Kwan's skating accomplishments have earned her numerous awards and honors including being named the 1998 Sportswoman of the Year by the Women's Sports Foundation; the 1996, 1998-2000 Female Athlete of the Year in figure skating by the U.S. Olympic Committee; a record eight USOC Athlete of the Month awards; and a four-time winner of U.S. Figure Skating's Skater of the Year (1994, 1996, 1998, 1999), the only multiple winner of the prestigious award.

AIM was founded in 1976 and ranks as the nation's eighth-largest mutual fund complex, according to independent mutual fund monitor Strategic Insight, with approximately $170 billion in assets under management and 9 million shareholders as of Dec. 31, 2000. AMVESCAP PLC had $402 billion in assets under management as of Dec. 31, 2000.

Note to editors -- We are required to include the following information with our news release:

For more complete information about the fund, including sales charges and expenses, obtain the prospectus from your financial advisor. Please read the prospectus carefully before investing or sending money.

AIM Distributors, Inc. 2/2001