-- Technical and Sales Training Center will support over 7,000 Cat dealer technicians in the Africa and Middle East region

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, May 11, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT) today announced that it will build a Regional Training Center for the African and Middle East Region (AME) in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The Center will offer hands-on machines and power systems technical and sales training to Caterpillar's dealers and customers in the AME region.

At an investment of more than $7 million, the approximately 1,700 m² center will employ about 40 people, mostly high-level technical staff who will primarily be recruited from the region. The more than 7,000 technicians at AME Cat dealers have some of the most direct connections with Caterpillar customers as they service and maintain their equipment. The training they'll receive at the new Center in Dubai will help to enhance their skills and knowledge on both product and the latest product support technologies.

"Our Training Center in Dubai is a key part of our plans for the Middle East and Africa and will ensure Caterpillar and our dealers can be relied upon for providing unsurpassed support to our customers. This is an important region for Caterpillar and we expect to see strong, continued growth for our customers, and we will grow to support that," commented Nigel Lewis, Vice President with responsibility for Caterpillar's EAME Distribution Division.

The Center will also feature a lab for Scheduled Oil Sampling analysis that will help meet critical customer required turnaround time of emergency samples and reduce downtime of Caterpillar products in the region. The Center will be located at Caterpillar's Middle East parts distribution center and Regional Sales and Marketing office in Jebel Ali, Dubai.

The Center is expected to be operational in the last quarter of this year.

About Caterpillar
For nearly 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 2014 sales and revenues of $55.184 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 - Resource Industries, Construction 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.

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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) government monetary or fiscal policies and infrastructure spending; (iii) commodity price changes, component price increases, fluctuations in demand for our products or significant shortages of component products; (iv) disruptions or volatility in global financial markets limiting our sources of liquidity or the liquidity of our customers, dealers and suppliers; (v) political and economic risks, commercial instability and events beyond our control in the countries in which we operate; (vi) 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; (vii) our Financial Products segment's risks associated with the financial services industry; (viii) changes in interest rates or market liquidity conditions; (ix) an increase in delinquencies, repossessions or net losses of Cat Financial's customers; (x) new regulations or changes in financial services regulations; (xi) a failure to realize, or a delay in realizing, all of the anticipated benefits of our acquisitions, joint ventures or divestitures; (xii) international trade policies and their impact on demand for our products and our competitive position; (xiii) our ability to develop, produce and market quality products that meet our customers' needs; (xiv) the impact of the highly competitive environment in which we operate on our sales and pricing; (xv) failure to realize all of the anticipated benefits from initiatives to increase our productivity, efficiency and cash flow and to reduce costs; (xvi) additional restructuring costs or a failure to realize anticipated savings or benefits from past or future cost reduction actions; (xvii) inventory management decisions and sourcing practices of our dealers and our OEM customers; (xviii) compliance with environmental laws and regulations; (xix) alleged or actual violations of trade or anti-corruption laws and regulations; (xx) additional tax expense or exposure; (xxi) currency fluctuations; (xxii) our or Cat Financial's compliance with financial covenants; (xxiii) increased pension plan funding obligations; (xxiv) union disputes or other employee relations issues; (xxv) significant legal proceedings, claims, lawsuits or government investigations; (xxvi) changes in accounting standards; (xxvii) failure or breach of IT security; (xxviii) adverse effects of unexpected events including natural disasters; and (xxix) other factors described in more detail under "Item 1A. Risk Factors" in our Form 10-K filed with the SEC on February 17, 2015 for the year ended December 31, 2014.

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SOURCE Caterpillar Inc.