BB&T Special Opportunities Equity Fund receives four- and five-star ratings from Morningstar Inc.

RALEIGH, N.C. –

The BB&T Special Opportunities Equity Fund A Shares (BOPAX) and I Shares (BOPIX) were awarded four- and five-star status, respectively, out of the 379 funds represented in the Mid Cap Blend category by Morningstar Inc. for the three-year period ended Sept. 30, 2006.

The BB&T Special Opportunities Equity Fund is managed by George Shipp, chief investment officer for Scott & Stringfellow, subadvisor to the fund and affiliate of BB&T Asset Management, a wholly owned subsidiary of BB&T Corporation (NYSE: BBT). The fund seeks long-term capital appreciation by investing primarily in a blend of underpriced value stocks and emerging growth stocks.

Shipp and his team at Scott & Stringfellow have more than four decades of combined investment management experience and have managed the BB&T Special Opportunities Equity Fund since its inception in 2003. The team also uses its broad range of investing skills in subadvising the BB&T Equity Income Fund.

The fund has the flexibility to buy large- or small-capitalization stocks, and shift between so-called “value” and “growth” styles as the managers evaluate the relative merits of portfolio candidates.

“The fund holds 25 to 30 of the best capital-growth opportunities we can identify from all market sectors and investment styles,” Shipp said. “To us, ‘best’ means stocks that, relative to their current prices, offer the strongest underlying growth potential, no matter how they are labeled. As investors favor different areas of the market, we seek to find these relative values in different market segments.

“Our fund continually seeks to own the best combination of quality, growth and value we can find. For example, we had a smaller stock bias a few years ago, but today we believe the fundamentals increasingly favor larger companies.”

A concentrated portfolio may add a measure of volatility to performance, as major fluctuations in any one holding will likely affect the fund more than a fund with a greater number of holdings, Shipp said. Equity securities are more volatile and carry more risk than other forms of investments, including investments in high-grade fixed income securities. The net asset value per share of this fund will fluctuate as the value of the securities in the portfolio changes.

Over the past one- and three-year periods, the fund’s Class A shares (including the 5.75 percent sales charge) returned 11.16 percent and 18.62 percent, respectively, and 12.61 percent year to date (as of Sept 30, 2006). The fund’s Class I shares returned 18.75 percent and 17.68 percent, respectively, over the past one- and three-year periods and 13.08 percent year to date. Both the fund’s Class A and Class I shares were initiated on June 2, 2003, and returned 16.37 percent and 18.75 percent, respectively, from the inception date to Sept. 30, 2006.

“We’re very proud of the accomplishments of George and his team,” said Jeffrey Schappe, chief investment officer for BB&T Asset Management. “More importantly, we’re extremely pleased for Special Opportunities Equity Fund shareholders. One of our primary goals is to provide clients with high quality performance. These rankings certainly recognize that we have continued to achieve those goals.”