EU raids Spanish cement firms in suspected cartel probe

Two of the world's biggest cement makers Holcim and Cemex along with local rival Cementos Portland Valderribas had their offices in Spain raided by EU officals probing possible price-fixing practices.

Holcim Trading and Holcim Espana were raided yesterday, said Peter Gysel, a spokesman of the Switzerland-based cement maker.

Cemex has also confirmed that the offices of Cemex Espana SA were and raided yesterday and that it is fully co-operating with officials.

Cementos Portland, a unit of Fomento de Construcciones y Contratas SA, confirmed the raids and declined to comment further, according to reports by Bloomberg.

In November, Cemex and Holcim and at least four additional companies were involved in a European Union probe into price- fixing. The European Commission, the EU’s antitrust authority, and national competition authorities conducted unannounced inspections in at least four countries at that time.

It is not known whether the latest raids are related to the earlier investigation. Heidelberg Cement issued a statement today saying it was not affected by antitrust raids.

If companies are found by the Commission to have breached European antitrust regulations, they could be fined up to 10 percent of their annual revenue.