France Penalizes Appliance Firms $635M for Price Fixing
PARIS (Reuters) - France's antitrust agency has fined 12 household appliance makers and distributors, including Electrolux, Whirlpool and LG, a total of 611 million euros ($635 million) for price fixing between 2007 and 2014.
"These practices reduced competition between distributors and kept prices artificially high for end consumers," the competition authority said on Thursday.
Ten of the 12 companies did not contest the facts alleged.
Groupe SEB, which owns the Tefal and Rowenta brands and received the largest fine of 189.5 million euros, denied the accusations and said it planned to appeal against the ruling.
French retailer Fnac Darty, which was fined 109 million euros, acknowledged the decision and said it would settle the transaction in 2025, using short-term financing.
Representatives for Electrolux, Whirlpool and LG did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
($1 = 0.9625 euros)
(Reporting by Makini Brice and Alban Kacher. Editing by Benoit Van Overstraeten and Mark Potter)
