PETERSON ACQUIRES PAPE BROS.

Press Release ... July 1, 2003

Peterson, the Caterpillar equipment and power systems dealership in northern California, has acquired the CAT assets of Pape Bros., Inc. in southern Oregon and began operations as Peterson Machinery Co. This new privately held company is headquartered in Eugene, Oregon and employs over 200 people. Four additional locations at Coos Bay, Klamath Falls, Redmond and Medford allow Peterson Machinery Co. to serve 10 counties in south-western Oregon, covering over 54,000 square miles.

Company CEO Duane Doyle, following his father and grandfather in the business as a third generation Cat dealer principal, now presides over a distribution organization with significant capabilities and staying power in an industry that has seen substantial change in recent years. The company sells, leases and rents Caterpillar equipment, engine systems and related products and offers product support services to customers in the forestry, heavy construction, general construction, waste, quarry and aggregate, agricultural, industrial, trucking, electric power generation and governmental markets. Peterson has been a major force in northern California's equipment history since 1936. Over the past 67 years, Peterson's coverage has tripled in size to over 30,000 square miles and 10 store locations throughout the northern reach of California. The acquisition of Pape Bros., Inc. effectively doubles Peterson's geographic territory, and boosts the size of its work force and overall business opportunity.