German Auto Industry Faces Probe Over Steel-Buying Cartel
(Bloomberg) -- Volkswagen AG, BMW AG, Daimler AG and Robert Bosch GmbH were among six companies raided by Germany's antitrust regulator in June in a probe of steel purchasing by the auto industry.
There are indications that antitrust rules may have been violated, and the raids were conducted to investigate the facts, Kay Weidner, spokesman for the Federal Cartel Office, said in an e-mailed statement on Tuesday. He declined to identify any company. BMW, VW, Daimler, Bosch and ZF Friedrichshafen AG confirmed that they were raided and said they are supporting the investigations.
Antitrust probes have become a threat for companies as both national regulators and the European Commission have the power to levy fines of up to 10 percent of annual sales. The German Federal Cartel Office in 2015 levied fines of 208 million euros ($232 million). In the first half of 2016, the German authority fined companies 99 million euros.
German newspaper Schwäbische Zeitung reported the auto-industry raids earlier.
To contact the reporter on this story: Karin Matussek in Berlin at kmatussek@bloomberg.net. To contact the editors responsible for this story: Anthony Aarons at aaarons@bloomberg.net, Naomi Kresge, Chris Reiter
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