Five aluminium forging companies and ten of their employees have been fined by the Bundeskartellamt for a total amount of approximately € 175 million. The companies were found to be in general agreement that their respective procurement costs and costs increases would be passed on to their customers. The companies that were fined are OTTO FUCHS Beteiligungen KG, Leiter Group GmbH & Co KG, Strojmetal Aluminium Forging GmbH, Presswerk Krefeld GmbH & Co KG and Bharat Forge Aluminiumtechnik GmbH. The company Hirschvogel Aluminium GmbH filed a leniency application that triggered the investigation and was therefore spared a fine. ^[1]

1. Press release of the Bundeskartellamt of 23 December 2020, ‘Fines imposed on aluminium forging companies on account of anti-competitive agreements’.[↩]