The Bundeskartellamt has imposed fines totaling approximately € 91 million against Alstom Power Systems GmbH, Mannheim and against two former directors for entering in agreements on customer allocation and on quotas and prices for utility steam generators.
According to the authority’s findings, in the 1990s and up to 2003 Alstom Power Systems GmbH, under its former name EVT Energie- und Verfahrenstechnik GmbH, together with the suppliers Babcock, Steinmüller and Lentjes, were involved in cartel agreements in the invitation of bids for utility steam generators for lignite-fired power stations.
The agreements concerned the supply of steam generators for the power stations Schkopau, Schwarze Pumpe, Lippendorf and Boxberg in Saxony-Anhalt, Brandenburg and Saxony as well as for the BoA 1 power station in North Rhine-Westphalia.
The boiler suppliers agreed that each of the participating companies receive at least one of these bulk orders at excessive prices. To achieve this they agreed in detail on their bid prices and in this way determined who should submit the most favourable bid to the advertising energy provider and receive the order. This company would then spearhead the respective consortium which was formed to execute that particular order. In the process the companies would split the contract according to their respective market shares in such a way that they could all operate at full capacity over the duration of the contract.
The Vice President of the Bundeskartellamt, Dr. Klocker stated: “By imposing these fines the Bundeskartellamt has punished a particularly serious competition infringement which for a long time had eliminated competition in orders for utility steam generators for lignite-fired power plants. This infringement caused considerable economic harm to a market in which there is a renewed high volume of orders.”
As the activities of Lentjes and Steinmüller in the manufacture of utility steam generators had already been integrated into the Babcock group in the 1990s, which has since become insolvent, only the cartel member Alstom Power Systems GmbH, which belongs to the French ALSTOM group, is still active in this area.
The € 91 million fine imposed against the company was calculated on the basis of the Act against Restraints of Competition, in the version in existence until July 2005. Accordingly, the level of fine can amount to three times the additional proceeds achieved from the cartel.
The Berlin Public Prosecution Office conducted investigative proceedings for bid-rigging against several persons involved in the agreements and has in some cases already terminated proceedings on payment of fines.
The orders imposing the fines are not yet final and can be appealed against at the Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court. 