Beer cartel: Radeberger could be fined EUR 190 million
The beer division of German food and beverage company Oetker Group faces a fine of EUR 190 million (USD 263.3 million) for its involvement in fixing beer prices, the German news magazine Focus reported on 9 March 2014.
According to Focus, Germany’s Federal Cartel Office is determined to deliver on its threat, issued in January 2014, that it will announce the fine before the end of March. At the time, that was widely interpreted as a sign that Radeberger was unwilling to settle with the Cartel Office out of court.
The fine for Radeberger is part of a larger investigation and follows a cartel office decision in January 2014 to impose a total fine of EUR106.5 million on five brewers and seven individuals for participation in price fixing. The price fixing took place between 2006 and 2008, the office said then.
Although involved, AB-InBev was not fined as they had turned whistleblower.
Radeberger is Germany’s major brewer, selling 13 million hl of beer and beverages in 2013. If Radeberger is fined EUR 190 million, the total levy on German brewers found guilty of price fixing will top even that of the country’s sugar producers. In February 2014, three sugar companies were found guilty of collusion and forced to cough up EUR 280 million. Südzucker, one of the three culprits, said it would accept its penalty of EUR195.5 million.
That’s more than what Radeberger is facing. According to Focus, the EUR190 million fine for Radeberger represents about 10 percent of the brewer’s annual turnover (EUR 1.8 billion in 2013) and might just wipe out the brewer’s profits this year.
