CORRECT: Ingersoll-Rand Targeted Over Equipment Sales In Iran
March 03 2010 - 10:05AM
Dow Jones News
Ingersoll-Rand PLC (IR) is being targeted over its ties to Iran
by a lobby group that has already helped push other industrial
groups to sever their business interests in the country.
New York-based United Against Nuclear Iran has called on the
diversified industrial company to stop servicing Iran's energy
sector and accused the company of failing to adequately disclose
its business activities in the country.
The lobby group has claimed credit for the recent decision by
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) to prohibit its non-U.S. subsidiaries from
accepting orders known to be headed to Iran, the latest in a raft
of companies to distance itself because of sanctions linked to the
country's nuclear program.
"Ingersoll-Rand's decision to do business in Iran is wrong,"
said UANI President Mark Wallace in a letter sent this week to
Michael Lamach, chief executive of Ingersoll-Rand. "We urge
Ingersoll-Rand to immediately cease all business dealings in
Iran."
The lobby group vowed to take "legal steps to ostracize" the
company. It said it will urge the U.S. Securities and Exchange
Commission to initiate an investigation into the company's
disclosure practices and threatened to press the New York Stock
Exchange to delist Ingersoll's stock.
Ingersoll-Rand gave no indication that it would comply with the
group's demands. The company maintains it isn't obligated by
securities regulations to disclose its business in Iran as a
potential risk to the value of its stock because its sales volume
in the country is small and doesn't affect the company's overall
results. The company didn't provide a specific sales figure, but a
spokesman called the amount "inconsequential."
"It certainly doesn't come close to being material" to earnings,
said Ingersoll spokesman Paul Dickard. "We're conducting business
under all the legal constraints that are out there."
United Against Nuclear Iran, which includes members with
political and diplomatic ties to both Republican and Democratic
presidential administrations, has also pressured chemical company
Huntsman Corp. (HUN) and German industrial conglomerate Siemens AG
(SI, SIE.XE) over their business ties to Iran.
Ingersoll-Rand, whose product lines include Trane heating and
air-conditioning units, commercial refrigerators and golf carts,
manufactures air compressors, air-powered drills and other
equipment used in oil and natural gas production.
To comply with the U.S. government's ban on domestic companies
selling directly to Iranian customers, Ingersoll and other
companies sold their products to overseas subsidiaries that
supplied independent dealers, who conducted the actual sales to
customers in Iran. Although Ingersoll-Rand relocated its
headquarters to Ireland last year, it remains subject to U.S.
regulations because many of its operations and top executives are
based on U.S. soil.
United Against Nuclear Iran said its research identified at
least three Iranian companies selling or using Ingersoll equipment.
Havacaran Industrial Technologies describes itself as certified
distributor of Ingersoll-built compressors and equipment.
Privately-held Sameh Afzar Tajak Co., or Satco, assembles and sells
Ingersoll compressors and materials-handling machinery, according
to the group. Meanwhile, a drilling company that the group
described as a subsidiary of the state-owned National Iranian Oil
Co. says on its Web site that it uses Ingersoll compression
systems, drills, hoists and other equipment.
-By Bob Tita, Dow Jones Newswires; 312-750-4129;
robert.tita@dowjones.com
Huntsman (NYSE:HUN)
Historical Stock Chart
From Sep 2024 to Oct 2024
Huntsman (NYSE:HUN)
Historical Stock Chart
From Oct 2023 to Oct 2024