Stainless-steel giant Outokumpu has agreed an out-of-court settlement in a long-running dispute with fellow metals companies, over the fallout from a price-fixing judgement handed down by the European Commission.
The settlement, in relation to a case brought in 2012, follows litigation brought against Outokumpu by Swedish metals company Boliden, and engineering group IMI, in the wake of huge fines handed to the Finnish steelmaker in 2004.
Outokumpu and Boliden were among six firms who were ordered to pay damages by the European Commission in 2004, for their part in a cartel to fix the prices of copper sanitary piping.
In that judgement, Outokumpu was fined 36 million euros, and Boliden 33 million euros.
The Swedish metal firm Boliden later sued Outokumpu in 2012 in a reported attempt to force the Finnish steel giant to cover some of Boliden’s losses stemming from the earlier lawsuit.
An end to the matter
The company, which says the size of the latest settlement is ”not significant”, continues to insist the claims are unsubstantiated. However, in a statement, Outokumpu said it ”has decided to contribute to the settlement in order to bring this matter to an end”.
The firm’s head of compliance, Kimmo Karihtala, said: ”We consider this settlement to be justified, as it is in our best interest to avoid further expense, inconvenience and burden of continuing litigation, and to get a final resolution in all claims in relation to [the] sanitary copper tube cartel."
The cartel claims related to price fixing and market sharing in the European copper tube sector between June 1988 and March 2001.
Outokumpu’s settlement also covers all of the firm’s former subsidiaries included in the claims. The payment will be recorded as a non-recurring item in the company’s third quarter 2014 financial results.
