EU anti-trust regulators raid cement companies across Europe

05 November 2008

European Commission investigators and the UK Office for Fair Trading, in a simultaneous swoop, today raided the European offices of cement companies Holcim-owned by Aggregate Industries, Heidelberg Cement, Dyckerhoff AG, Lafarge Cement UK and Cemex UK for suspicions that the companies may have ran an illegel cartel to rig cement prices.

Cement giants Holcim of Switzerland, HeidelbergCement and Dyckerhoff both of Germany, Lafarge of France, Cemex of Mexico, have already acknowledged that their offices were raided by the regulators.

The current investigations are aimed at unearthing evidence of anti-competitive infringement such as discriminatory pricing, markets sharing arrangements and co-ordinated price movements.

The commission said in a statement ''We have reason to believe that the companies concerned may have violated (EU) antitrust rules that prohibit cartels and restrictive business practices and/or abuse of a dominant market position.''

The simultaneous investigation, which started yesterday and is still continuing is spread across cement company offices in Germany, Britain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg.

All the companies said that they were cooperating with the regulators in the investigation.