French guard dog punishes Fleury Michon for "Obstruction of the cartel probe"

Fleury Michon shelled the original fine

Fleury Michon was fined again for a price-fixing cartel among a group of sausage manufacturers in the country, according to France’s competition watchdog.

Last July, L’Autorité de la Concurrence fined 12 sausage companies totaling EUR 93 million (US $ 113.2 million) after deciding to participate in a price-fixing cartel.

Fleury Michon was fined almost € 14.8 million, but the company said it would overturn the fine, argued that allegations regarding sales prices of downstream products did not apply to the deal and denied being involved in an anti-competitive agreement Regarding having participated in the purchase price of certain raw materials „.

However, in a recent announcement, the antitrust panel has alleged that Fleury Michon failed to inform investigators of an internal restructuring operation and that the cancellation of Fleury Michon Charcuterie, one of the initiators of the practices to which the complaints were made, has been brought up „.

As a result, the competition watchdog Fleury Michon imposed another fine of 100,000 euros this time „for obstructing the investigation”.

In a statement sent to Just-Food, Fleury Michon said: „Fleury Michon would like to reaffirm its good faith and respect for the investigations and investigations carried out by the Competition Authority.

„Fleury Michon stresses that this sanction is strictly limited to an alleged lack of information – the company name change – and does not affect the current peal process.”

The company said the new penalty „cannot be prejudiced in any way [the peal procedure]”adding,” Fleury Michon officially denies having entered into an anti-competitive agreement with competitors on the purchase price of certain raw materials (upstream agreement) and also protested the decision on September 18, 2020. „

Last week, Fleury Michon announced that talks were ongoing about the possible sale of its Canadian subsidiary. In September, Fleury Michon closed a deal to sell its 50% stake in a company in Italy. The company shifted half its stake in Piatti Freschi Italia, a ready-to-eat meal maker in which it had invested for nearly 20 years.