Federated Kaufmann Small Cap Fund and Federated U.S. Government Bond Fund Earn Lipper Fund Awards

PITTSBURGH, March 22 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Federated Investors, Inc. , one of the nation's largest investment managers, announced today that two of its family of mutual funds received Lipper Fund Awards recognizing their category-leading performance. Lipper, a leading global provider of mutual fund research and analysis, based the awards on the calculation of Consistent Return for the three-year period ending Dec. 31, 2005.

"Our investment management strategy is focused on providing investors high-quality products with consistent returns," said John B. Fisher, president and chief executive officer, Federated Investment Advisory Companies. "We appreciate Lipper's recognition of the skill and talent of our analysts and portfolio managers with these awards."

Federated Kaufmann Small Cap Fund (FKASX) received the Lipper Fund Award in the small-cap growth fund classification for three-year risk adjusted performance as of Dec. 31, 2005. The fund was selected from 438 small-cap growth funds.

Federated Kaufmann Small Cap Fund seeks capital appreciation over time from small companies that operate in what appear to be profitable niche markets. The $832 million fund uses a bottomup approach to portfolio management with an emphasis on individual stock selection. The fund is managed by Lawrence E. Auriana, Hans P. Utsch, Aash M. Shah, CFA, and John Ettinger, CFA, who collectively bring more than 100 years of investment experience to shareholders.

Federated U.S. Government Bond Fund (FEDBX) received the Lipper Fund Award in the general U.S. Government fund classification for three-year risk adjusted performance as of Dec. 31, 2005. The fund was selected from 143 U.S. Government funds.

Federated U.S. Government Bond Fund invests in longer-term U.S. Treasury and government agency securities with an average duration(1) of plus or minus 20 percent of the Merrill Lynch 10+ Year Treasury Index.(2) With nearly $78 million in assets, the fund is managed by Liam O'Connell and Donald T. Ellenberger, who bring more than 20 years of combined investment experience to the fund.

Awards were presented March 21, 2006 in New York City, following an afternoon of conference sessions with winning fund managers.

Federated Investors, Inc. is one of the largest investment managers in the United States, managing $213.4 billion in assets as of Dec. 31, 2005. With 136 mutual funds and various separately managed accounts, Federated provides comprehensive investment management worldwide to 5,500 institutions and intermediaries including corporations, government entities, insurance companies, foundations and endowments, banks and broker/dealers. Federated ranks in the top two percent of money market fund managers in the industry, the top six percent of fixed-income fund managers and the top seven percent of equity fund managers.(3) For more information, visit http://federatedinvestors.com/.

1 Duration is a measure of a security's price sensitivity to changes in interest rates. 2 Merrill Lynch 10+ Year Treasury Index is an unmanaged index which includes U.S. Treasury securities with maturities of greater than 10 years. This index is produced by Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, Inc. 3 Strategic Insight, November 2005. Based on assets under management in open-end funds. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

The Lipper award selection process began with Lipper calculating a Consistent Return score for each fund for the three-year time period as of December 31. Consistent Return is a quantitative metric that incorporates two characteristics: risk-adjusted return and the strength of the fund's performance trend. The top-scoring Consistent Return fund within each classification received the award.

Although Lipper makes reasonable efforts to ensure the accuracy and reliability of the data contained herein, the accuracy is not guaranteed by Lipper. Users acknowledge that they have not relied upon any warranty, condition, guarantee or representation made by Lipper. Any use of the data for analyzing, managing or trading financial instruments is at the user's own risk. This is not an offer to buy or sell securities.

Small company stocks may be less liquid and subject to greater price volatility than large company stocks.

Visit http://federatedinvestors.com/ for more fund information, including updated monthly composition and performance.

For more complete information, visit http://federatedinvestors.com/ or contact your investment professional for prospectuses. You should consider the fund's investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses carefully before you invest. Information about these and other important subjects is in the fund's prospectus, which you should read carefully before investing.

Federated Securities Corp., Distributor