UK: Construction firms fined £36M

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has issued 3 firms fines totalling more than £36 million (US$43 million) for breaking competition law in supplying certain concrete drainage products for building projects.

Following an investigation by the CMA, the Northern Ireland-based firm FP McCann is facing a fine of more than £25 million (US$32 million)  for its part in the scheme. Derbyshire-based Stanton Bonna Concrete and Somerset-based CPM are due to pay more than £7 million and £4 million respectively.

The fines have been imposed after the CMA found that the companies broke competition law by taking part in an illegal cartel covering Great Britain. From July 2006 to March 2013, they agreed to fix or coordinate their prices, shared the market by allocating customers and regularly exchanged competitively sensitive information.

These arrangements continued for nearly 7 years and involved meetings attended by senior executives from each of the firms. The CMA recorded a number of these meetings and used them as evidence when arriving at its final decision.

Full Content: Gov UK

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