Bayer agrees to $18m price-fixing settlement

19 October 2006 16:15  [Source: ICIS news]

LONDON (ICIS news)--Bayer has agreed to pay $18m (€14.3m) to settle claims it participated in a cartel to inflate the price of polyester polyol-based products between 1998 and 2005, a company spokesman said on Thursday.

 

On Tuesday, US district judge John Lungstrum in Kansas City, Kansas, approved the agreement in the second largest settlement Bayer has made this year regarding polymer price-fixing.

 

Bayer said it is required under the agreement to co-operate with claimant attorneys as they continue the lawsuit against former co-defendants Uniroyal Chemical and Chemtura, formerly known as Crompton.

 

The court dismissed cases against Rhein Chemie Corp and Rhein Chemie Rheinu – subsidiaries of Lanxess, which was spun off from Bayer last year.

 

In December 2005, European Union regulators fined Bayer €58.9m and Crompton/Chemtura €13.6m for operating a cartel between 1996 and 2001, finding that they shared information about prices of rubber chemicals in contravention of EU competition rules.

 

 

By: Mark Watts
+44 20 8652 3214

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