EU competition regulators imposed their biggest fine ever today, hitting lift makers Otis, Schindler, ThyssenKrupp and Kone with a penalty of nearly a €1 billion for running an illegal cartel.
The European Commission accused the companies of operating a cartel for the installation and maintenance of lifts and escalators in Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg and The Netherlands between at least 1995 and 2004.
The European Union's antitrust watchdog said it was fining them a combined €992m for rigging bids for procurement contracts, fixing prices, sharing out projects, carving up markets and exchanging sensitive information.
The total fine also included a €1.8m penalty against Japanese company Mitsubishi for a role in the cartel limited to The Netherlands.
ThyssenKrupp was handed the heaviest fine ever imposed by EU regulators on a single company in a cartel case because it was a repeated offender. The German group was fined €480m.
Otis, a unit of US conglomerate United Technologies Corporation, was given a fine of €225m for its role, followed by Schindler with a penalty of €144m and Kone with €142m.
Until Today, the biggest fine in a European cartel case was €855m in penalties imposed on eight vitamin makers in 2001. The vitamin makers' fine was later reduced to €790m by an EU court.
