ADM admits its guilt and agrees to pay

21 October 1996 00:00  [Source: ICB]

US company Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) is to plead guilty and will pay a $100m settlement in the US over the price fixing of citric acid and the food additive lysine. The fine represents the largest ever in a criminal anti-trust case.

Bayer's Haarmann & Reimer of the US and Swiss pharmaceutical company Hoffmann-La Roche are currently in cooperation with the US authorities' ongoing pricing investigation. The alleged price fixing took place between 1993 and 1995.

Grain processing company ADM agreed to pay $30m for its transgressions regarding the pricing of citric acid and $70m for lysine.

Analysts consider that ADM is large enough to be able to comfortably absorb the charges, which were the culmination of a four-year investigation. The agreement had been the result of talks between the justice department and a group of seven ADM board members.

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