Madrid -- The Spanish anti trust organisation CNC has imposed fines of Euro 8.8m ($11.7M) on for over a decade, the CNC said in a statement.
The CNC said the two firms, Armacell Iberia SA and L'Isolante K-Flex Espana had agreements spanning at least eleven years - to increase sale prices and share out the market
The CNC said it was imposing the fine in accordance with Article 64.1 of the Spanish Act.
The companies agreed to increase sale prices and respect each other's client base over a period of at least 11 years in all of Spain, said the CNC. It added that the two firms had a market share of 80% of the market. It therefore involved a concentrated market, where buyer power is highly fragmented due to the product's numerous applications. A key fact in helping the CNC to impose the fine was the way that prices increased between 5 and 10% and that those increases applied even when demand was falling. There is no doubt that the conduct produced effects on the market for over a decade, said CNC.
Armacell Iberia and its parent Foam Investments II SARL is being fined €6,497,371 L'Isolante K-Flex Espana and its parent L'Isolante K-Flex Espana srl is being fined €2,349,712. If the Spanish companies cannot pay the fines the CNC will pursue the parents.
This is the second time in recent months that the Spanish Cartel authority has fined companies operating in the flexible foam sector. In March.
