ABB to Plead Guilty to U.S. Antitrust Charges

ABB Ltd., the biggest electrical-engineering company, said it will plead guilty to bid rigging on U.S. government-financed building projects in Egypt and expects to pay as much as $63 million in fines and civil damages. The Swiss manufacturer, with annual revenue of $23 billion, is close to concluding an agreement with the U.S. Justice Department in which the company would plead guilty to an antitrust violation, according to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company also expects to settle related civil claims, the document said. “We’ve reached an agreement with” the Justice Department “on the resolution of a charge that an ABB subsidiary through certain employees engaged in bid rigging on a waste-water system construction project,” said William Kelly, director of media relations at ABB USA in Norwalk, Conn. “We deplore and deeply regret the behavior that led to these charges.” ABB employs about 16,000 people in the U.S.