L'Oréal and Unilever were among 11 companies fined a total of €951.2 million ($1.17 billion) by France’s antitrust regulator over allegations of a conspiracy to rig the prices of products including shampoo and toothpaste.
The penalties were issued in separate cases, one involving cleaning products and the other personal hygiene items. L'Oréal will have to pay €189.5 million, the largest fine, while Unilever received a €172.5 million penalty, L'Autorité de la concurrence said in an e-mailed statement.
The combined €606 million fine in the personal-care industry is the highest handed down by France’s antitrust arm. The agreement covered products such as shower gel, shampoos, toothpastes, deodorants and razors and brand names such as Sanex, Signal and Head & Shoulders, the regulator said.
"The practices were particularly serious, given not only to their secret character but also because of their nature: the concerted practices aimed at distorting then main components of commercial negotiations, especially price evolutions," the regulator said.
Company employees would meet in restaurants and exchange correspondence at their private homes, the French antitrust arm said.
‘Totally Unjustified’
L'Oréal and Unilever both plan to appeal the decision.
"L'Oréal refutes accusations of anticompetitive activity with its competitors," the company said in an e-mailed statement. The producer of the Elseve shampoo brand said the amount of the fine is “totally out of proportion.”
Unilever "considers the sanction imposed to be totally unjustified, given Unilever’s comparatively limited level of involvement in any exchanges and the absence of effects for the consumer," the company said in an e-mailed statement.
Reckitt Benckiser Group Plc was fined €121 million, Henkel €109.2 million, Procter & Gamble €78.9 million, Beiersdorf €72.1 million, Colgate-Palmolive €046.7 million, and Tissue France €45 million.
Reckitt Benckiser and Henkel said in separate statements that they cooperated with the probe. Beiersdorf said it’s assessing the antitrust decision. P&G said it’s "reviewing it in detail." Colgate wasn’t immediately available to comment.
P&G, Colgate and Henkel have already been at the receiving end of French penalties. The regulator fined them a combined €367.9 million in 2011 for fixing the price of laundry soap. Unilever avoided a fine at the time for blowing the whistle on the cartel.
Hillshire Brands will have to pay €25.3 million, of which Colgate-Palmolive is jointly liable for €20.7 million. Johnson & Johnson Sante Beaute France received an €8.13 million penalty and Bolton Manitoba was fined €7.9 million.
J&J said its French unit "fully cooperated" with the country’s antitrust authorities.
To contact the reporter on this story: Gaspard Sebag in Brussels at [email protected] To contact the editors responsible for this story: Anthony Aarons at [email protected] Peter Chapman, Paul Jarvis
Bloomberg News edited by ESM
