Nov 26 Italy's antitrust authority has opened an investigtation into four cement makers for alleged price fixing and, with the tax police, has searched the offices of the companies, it said in a statement on Thursday.
The companies under investigation are Buzzi Unicem, Cementir Italia, Industria Cementi Giovanni Rossi and Holcim Italia, the watchdog said.
"The case concerns the possibility of an agreement ... to coordinate cement sales price increases," it added.
Holcim Italia, part of the LafargeHolcim Group, confirmed the inspections. It said 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 it is confident it will be able to demonstrate during the investigation that it had always acted in compliance with competition law.
Cementir declined immediate comment. Industria Cementi Giovanni Rossi could not immediately be reached for comment. (Reporting by Agnieszka Flak and Andrea Mandala in Milan and Oliver Hirt in Zurich; Editing by Susan Thomas and David Goodman)
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