28/05/2017 08:04 AST
Agility, a leading global logistics provider, on Saturday announced a global settlement in the case involving the US government food-supply contracts that the company held from 2003 to 2010 (the Prime Vendor contracts).
The contracts spanned seven years, involved nearly 200,000 invoices to the US government, and were valued at over $8.6 billion, said a statement from the company.
Agility settled on terms that preserve and validate the company's reputation for integrity, it added.
Announcing this new development, CEO Tarek Sultan said: "The settlement affirms our long-standing view that Agility acted transparently and responsibly as it carried out to near-perfection the extraordinarily complex mission to deliver food and related materials to US troops in an active war zone."
In the criminal portion of the case, Agility announced earlier that it has agreed to plead to a misdemeanor in connection with a single invoice valued at $551. The misdemeanor is a minor offense, unrelated to any of the original criminal charges. It requires Agility to pay a maximum of $551 in restitution, but carries with it no criminal fine.
In the parallel civil proceedings of the case, the company has agreed to pay $95 million in cash.
In addition, Agility and the US government have agreed to mutual releases of all outstanding contract claims related to the food-supply contracts.
The agreement will resolve all legal issues related to these contracts for Agility employees, directors, officers and affiliates, said the top official. The terms of the settlement are subject to final court approval.
The settlement will allow Agility to resume the pursuit of new US government contracts.
Under the terms of the settlement, the US government has agreed to remove Agility and all of its subsidiaries and affiliates from the list of suspended companies on its System for Award Management (SAM) database, formerly known as the Excluded Parties List System (EPLS), within 60 days.
"Today's settlement removes uncertainty for investors and lenders, ends costly litigation, and opens a pipeline of potential government and commercial contracting opportunities," remarked Sultan.
"Agility has a healthy balance sheet and low net debt," he stated.
"The company can meet its obligations under the settlement without jeopardizing its current investments or its future growth. By bringing the case to an end, we have the ability to unlock additional value for shareholders," he added.-
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