1:15 AM
Admin
'EU says close cooperation with UK regulator
Brussels,Belgium -Reuters, by Foo Yun Chee -Jan 19, 2011: -- European Union and British competition authorities are working closely together on separate probes into possible cartel activities among some of the world's biggest truckmakers... There was close cooperation with the UK regulator but the two investigations are separate," EU Commission spokeswoman Amelia Torres said on Wednesday... EU authorities launched cartel raids on major truckmakers in Europe on Tuesday including the top two firms -- Daimler and Volvo... Swedish group Scania and German peer MAN, both allied to German auto company Volkswagen , and Fiat Industrial , maker of Iveco trucks, also said they were being investigated... Shares in the truckmakers fell, as analysts played down the likely impact of the investigation on company valuations... Should these uncover the existence of a cartel, one can assume that everybody would be hit to a roughly similar extent. It is very hard to quantify this kind of risk, and that is why I believe the market is responding calmly to this," said Carl Holmquist, senior industrials analyst at Danske Bank... "We have seen this type of thing happen in other industries in the past and it has not had any greater repurcussions for share prices and company valuations," he said... The European Commission said it had reason to believe the companies concerned, which it did not name, may have violated EU antitrust rules that prohibit cartels and restrictive business practices and/or the abuse of a dominant market position... Torres declined to comment when asked if the Commission had coordinated with its U.S. counterpart on the case, and to provide details on the alleged cartel...
