PEORIA, Ill., March 16, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Caterpillar Inc.
(NYSE: CAT) today announced it has retained former U.S. Attorney
General William P. Barr as outside
counsel. Jim Umpleby, who became
Chief Executive Officer of Caterpillar on January 1, 2017, has tasked Mr. Barr, currently
of counsel to the law firm of Kirkland & Ellis LLP, with
reviewing matters relating to the search warrants executed at
Caterpillar facilities on March 2,
2017, and assisting the company in appropriately addressing
those matters.
"Bill Barr is one of the most
distinguished lawyers in the country, with an impeccable track
record, well known for his integrity and direct, honest advice,"
said Umpleby. "I have asked Bill — who has no prior connection with
Caterpillar — to draw on his experience and that of his colleagues
at Kirkland & Ellis and other advisers, to take a fresh look at
Caterpillar's disputes with the government, get all the facts, and
then help us bring these matters to proper resolution based on the
merits."
Mr. Barr served as the 77th Attorney General of the United States (1991-93) under President
George H.W. Bush, and before that as
Deputy Attorney General (1990-91) and as Assistant Attorney General
in charge of the Office of Legal Counsel (1989-90) at the United
States Department of Justice. After his public service, Mr.
Barr served for over 14 years as Executive Vice President and
General Counsel of Verizon Communications, Inc. and its predecessor
company, GTE Corp.
"I am committed to maintaining Caterpillar's long tradition of
pursuing the highest ethical standards in conducting our
business and, as we focus on restoring growth at Caterpillar, I am
confident that Bill's assistance will help our leadership team
achieve these goals," Umpleby concluded.
About Caterpillar
For more than 90 years, Caterpillar
Inc. has been making sustainable progress possible and driving
positive change on every continent. Customers turn to Caterpillar
to help them develop infrastructure, energy and natural resource
assets. With 2016 sales and revenues of $38.537 billion, Caterpillar is the world's
leading manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, diesel
and natural gas engines, industrial gas turbines and
diesel-electric locomotives. The company principally operates
through its three product segments - Construction Industries,
Resource Industries and Energy & Transportation - and also
provides financing and related services through its Financial
Products segment. For more information, visit caterpillar.com.
To connect with us on social media,
visit caterpillar.com/social-media.
Forward-looking Statements
Certain statements in this press release relate to future events
and expectations and are forward-looking statements within the
meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.
Words such as "believe," "estimate," "will be," "will," "would,"
"expect," "anticipate," "plan," "project," "intend," "could,"
"should" or other similar words or expressions often identify
forward-looking statements. All statements other than statements of
historical fact are forward-looking statements, including, without
limitation, statements regarding our outlook, projections,
forecasts or trend descriptions. These statements do not guarantee
future performance and speak only as of the date they are made, and
we do not undertake to update our forward-looking
statements.
Caterpillar's actual results may differ materially from those
described or implied in our forward-looking statements based on a
number of factors, including, but not limited to: (i) global and
regional economic conditions and economic conditions in the
industries we serve; (ii) commodity price changes, material price
increases, fluctuations in demand for our products or significant
shortages of material; (iii) government monetary or fiscal
policies; (iv) political and economic risks, commercial instability
and events beyond our control in the countries in which we operate;
(v) our ability to develop, produce and market quality products
that meet our customers' needs; (vi) the impact of the highly
competitive environment in which we operate on our sales and
pricing; (vii) information technology security threats and computer
crime; (viii) additional restructuring costs or a failure to
realize anticipated savings or benefits from past or future cost
reduction actions; (ix) failure to realize all of the anticipated
benefits from initiatives to increase our productivity, efficiency
and cash flow and to reduce costs; (x) inventory management
decisions and sourcing practices of our dealers and our OEM
customers; (xi) a failure to realize, or a delay in realizing, all
of the anticipated benefits of our acquisitions, joint ventures or
divestitures; (xii) union disputes or other employee relations
issues; (xiii) adverse effects of unexpected events including
natural disasters; (xiv) disruptions or volatility in global
financial markets limiting our sources of liquidity or the
liquidity of our customers, dealers and suppliers; (xv) failure to
maintain our credit ratings and potential resulting increases to
our cost of borrowing and adverse effects on our cost of funds,
liquidity, competitive position and access to capital markets;
(xvi) our Financial Products segment's risks associated with the
financial services industry; (xvii) changes in interest rates or
market liquidity conditions; (xviii) an increase in delinquencies,
repossessions or net losses of Cat Financial's customers; (xix)
currency fluctuations; (xx) our or Cat Financial's compliance with
financial and other restrictive covenants in debt agreements; (xxi)
increased pension plan funding obligations; (xxii) alleged or
actual violations of trade or anti-corruption laws and regulations;
(xxiii) international trade policies and their impact on demand for
our products and our competitive position; (xxiv) additional tax
expense or exposure; (xxv) significant legal proceedings, claims,
lawsuits or government investigations; (xxvi) new regulations or
changes in financial services regulations; (xxvii) compliance with
environmental laws and regulations; and (xxviii) other factors
described in more detail in Caterpillar's Forms 10-Q, 10-K and
other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
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SOURCE Caterpillar Inc.