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UANI to Ingersoll Rand: Business in Iran is Material and Irresponsible

Ingersoll Rand, in public statements, attempted to defend its deliberate decision to conduct business in Iran, claiming that its business in Iran is small, not material, and technically legal.

In a letter to Ingersoll Rand CEO, Michael Lamach, UANI President, Ambassador Mark D. Wallace wrote:

Under the U.S. securities laws, information is considered "material" and therefore must be disclosed if an investor would consider it important in making an investment decision. Given that major U.S. investors, including state pension funds, have been divesting their portfolios of companies that do business with Iran, your position that your Iranian business is "not material" is not supportable.

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In addition, while you may believe that IR's business in Iran is not material relative to IR's $13 billion dollar balance sheet, it is not insignificant to Iran. The provision of key technology and products to Iran when Iran is increasingly isolated because of international sanctions is far from insignificant. As countries and companies across the globe refuse to do business with Iran, IR's provision of key technology and products to Iran's oil, LNG and nuclear industries is far more valuable to Iran than the economic impact on your balance sheet.

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Conducting your business in Iran through non-U.S. subsidiaries does not cure your failure to comply with the U.S. securities laws or provide any moral or legal justification for your actions.

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For IR to conclude that it is somehow acceptable to do business with Iran's theocratic dictatorship and at the same time believe that such an irresponsible business decision would have no business or reputational effect on IR's great brands is naive at best, and is certainly material to the many shareholders of IR.

Click here to read UANI's letter to Ingersoll Rand dated March 4, 2010.

Click here to read UANI's letter to Ingersoll Rand dated March 2, 2010.

Click here to call on Ingersoll Rand to end its business in Iran.

United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI)
Kimmie Lipscomb, 212-554-3296
press@uani.com