Quinn company fined for price-fixing

BELGIAN AUTHORITIES have fined part of the troubled Quinn Group for conspiring with three of its rivals to fix the price of radiators.

The Belgian Competition Council, the equivalent of the Republic’s Competition Authority, fined four manufacturers – Quinn Radiators, Masco, Caradon and Radson (now Rettig) – a total of €3.5 million after finding them guilty of operating a cartel to fix the wholesale price of radiators.

Quinn, owned by businessman Seán Quinn, manufactures radiators in a number of European countries, a business it bought in May 2004 when it took over the old Barlo group.

Quinn’s share of the fine was just €200,000, as it took part in a whistleblower scheme that allows companies which come forward voluntarily and give evidence that helps convict other cartel participants to be treated leniently.

Quinn Radiators joined the leniency scheme after another cartel member, Masco, volunteered evidence. As the first whistleblower, Masco was not fined for its part in the price-fixing cartel.

All EU member states have outlawed price-fixing, cartels and other anti-competitive activities, while the EU itself has strict regulations banning such behaviour.

The Belgian authority’s investigation found that the four companies shared commercially sensitive information and agreed to co-ordinate the wholesale price of steel radiators between 2003 and 2006.

This is not the first time that Quinn group has fallen foul of competition law in Europe. In mid-2006, the EU fined it €9 million for taking part in a cartel that included ICI, which fixed the price of acrylic glass – or materials such as plexiglas, perspex and lucite – between 1999 and 2002. That business was also originally a part of Barlo.

The cartels in both the radiator business and the acrylic glass operation were set up before Quinn took over both operations from Barlo in 2004. The fine imposed on the acrylic glass business covered a period that ended before Quinn took over Barlo.

The Belgian investigation of its radiator manufacturing operation covered a period from 2003 to mid-2006.

A spokesman for Quinn pointed out that the period in question “started before Quinn took over Barlo, and since the investigation began, Quinn Radiators has co-operated fully with the Belgian authorities”.

The Quinn Group has interests in the building materials industry, radiator manufacturing, glass production, property, financial services and insurance.

Earlier this year, the financial regulator, Matthew Elderfield, appointed administrators to the insurance division, which was found to be in breach of solvency regulations. Quinn’s entire financial services business is up for sale.