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Sasol slapped with another cartel fine Posted: Wed, 06 May 2009 [miningmx.com] -- SASOL has been found guilty for a second time of anti-competitive behaviour, this time in the fertiliser business in South Africa and it has to pay a R188m fine. A matter of it abusing its dominant position is still under discussion. In October 2008, the European Commission imposed a €318m or R3.68bn fine on the South African chemicals company, which is a world leader in converting coal into liquid fuel, for its role in a “paraffin mafia” cartel in Europe fixing paraffin wax prices and market sharing. Sasol paid the fine. In South Africa, the Competition Commission has handed out the most expensive fine in its history to Sasol for participating in a fertiliser cartel. The R188m fine has yet to be confirmed by the Competition Tribunal. The fine is equivalent to six percent of the turnover of Sasol’s Nitro Division. “The settlement agreement relates to matters of alleged collusion. Sasol and the Commission remain in discussion regarding outstanding allegations of abuse of dominance,” Sasol CEO Pat Davies said in a statement. The abuse of dominance allegations relate to excessive pricing and exclusion of competitors by Sasol in the nitrogenous fertiliser market. A company called Nutri-Flo laid a complaint with the commission, which it referred to the tribunal, in May 2005, about the collusion between Sasol and two other companies in nitrogenous fertiliser products. The parties set committees to control the market between 1996 and 2004. The commission also initiated a complaint against Sasol and a group called Foskor for colluding in the supply of phosphoric acid, used in fertilisers and animal feeds. Sasol, in 2008, launched an internal review of its business practises to weed out any anti-competitive behaviour that broke the law. It had planned to complete the review during the first half of the year, but it now will extend into the second half. "While many of these activities took place and then ceased some years ago, Sasol deeply regrets that these activities occurred," Davies said. Sasol’s shares gained four percent to R277.35. "Everybody knew it was on the cards; the clarity given by Sasol affords investors surety - the market reacts well when clarity is provided," BJM Private Client Services' Justin Louw told Fin24.com.
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