Italy: Italy's antitrust authority has opened an investigation into four cement companies for alleged price fixing and, with the tax police, has searched the offices of the companies, according to Reuters. The companies under investigation are Buzzi Unicem, Cementir Italia, Industria Cementi Giovanni Rossi and Holcim Italia.
"The case concerns the possibility of an agreement to coordinate cement sales price increases," said the authority in a statement.
Holcim Italia, part of LafargeHolcim, confirmed the inspections. It said that the company had always acted according to the law and has 'policies and procedures in place that are designed to ensure compliance with principles and rules of fair competition prohibiting anti-competitive behaviour and the abuse of a dominant market position.' Buzzi said that it is confident that it will be able to demonstrate during the investigation that it had always acted in compliance with competition law.