MasTec Announces Withdrawal from Teamsters Central States Pension Plan

CORAL GABLES, Fla., Feb. 7, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- MasTec, Inc. (NYSE: MTZ) today announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, Precision Pipeline, LLC, along with other members of the Pipe Line Contractors Association ( "PLCA"), have fully withdrawn from the Central States Southeast and Southwest Areas Pension Fund multi-employer pension plan (the "Plan"), effective November 15, 2011. In connection with the withdrawal, MasTec will record a one-time expense of $6.4 million in the fourth quarter of 2011 based on an estimate provided by the plan.

This charge was not contemplated at the time the Company issued its earnings guidance for the fourth quarter of 2011.  The Company withdrew from the Plan in order to mitigate its liability in connection with the Plan, which is significantly underfunded. The Plan has asserted that the PLCA members did not effect a withdrawal in 2011, although MasTec believes that a legally effective withdrawal occurred in the fourth quarter of 2011 and has recorded the withdrawal liability on this basis. If the Plan, however, were to prevail in its assertion and the withdrawal of MasTec were deemed to occur after 2011, the amount of any withdrawal liability would be expected to increase.

MasTec, Inc. is a leading infrastructure construction company operating mainly throughout North America across a range of industries. The Company's activities include the engineering, building, installation, maintenance and upgrade of energy, communication and utility infrastructure, such as: electrical utility transmission and distribution, natural gas and petroleum pipeline infrastructure, wireless, wireline and satellite communications, wind farms, solar farms and other renewable energy, industrial infrastructure and water and sewer systems. MasTec's customers are primarily in the utility, communications and government industries. The Company's corporate website is located at www.mastec.com.

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act. These statements are based on management's current expectations and are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties, and assumptions, including further or continued economic downturns, reduced capital expenditures, reduced financing availability, customer consolidation and technological and regulatory changes in the industries we serve; market conditions, technical and regulatory changes that affect us or our customers' industries; our ability to accurately estimate the costs associated with our fixed-price and other contracts and performance on such projects; our ability to replace non-recurring projects with new projects; our ability to retain qualified personnel and key management, including from acquired businesses, enforce any noncompetition agreements, integrate acquired businesses within the expected timeframes and achieve the revenue, cost savings and earnings levels from such acquisitions at or above the levels projected; the impact of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and any similar local or state regulations affecting renewable energy, electrical transmission, broadband and related projects and expenditures; the effect of state and federal regulatory initiatives, including costs of compliance with existing and future environmental requirements; our ability to attract and retain qualified managers and skilled employees; trends in oil and natural gas prices; increases in fuel, maintenance, materials, labor and other costs;  fluctuations in foreign currencies; the timing and extent of fluctuations in geographic, weather, equipment and operational factors affecting the industries in which we operate; any material changes in estimates for legal costs or case settlements or adverse determinations on any claim, lawsuit or proceeding; the highly competitive nature of our industry; our dependence on a limited number of customers; the ability of our customers, including our largest customers, to terminate or reduce the amount of work, or in some cases prices paid for services on short or no notice under our contracts; the impact of any unionized workforce on our operations, including labor availability and relations; liabilities associated with multiemployer union pension plans, including underfunding liabilities, for our operations that employ unionized workers; any liquidity issues related to our securities held for sale; the adequacy of our insurance, legal and other reserves and allowances for doubtful accounts; any exposure related to our divested state Department of Transportation projects and assets; restrictions imposed by our credit facility, senior notes, convertible notes and any future loans or securities; the outcome of our plans for future operations, growth and services, including business development efforts, backlog and acquisitions; any dilution or stock price volatility which shareholders may experience in connection with shares we may issue as consideration for earn-out obligations in connection with past or future acquisitions, or as a result of  conversions of convertible notes or other stock issuances;  as well as other risks detailed in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Actual results may differ significantly from results expressed or implied in these statements.  We do not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking statements.

SOURCE MasTec, Inc.