Carlsberg, Anheuser Bush being probed over price fixing by German regulators
26 Mar 2013
Danish brewer Carlsberg today said that the German Federal Cartel Office has launched an investigation into alleged price fixing.
The Copenhagen-based company acknowledged that it was under a probe after German weekly magazine Focus last week reported that Carlsberg, along with Anheuser Bush Inbev SA and some local companies had formed a cartel and could be slapped with millions of euros in fines.
According to Focus, apart from Carlsberg and Anheuser Bush Inbev, others being investigated are German brewers Warsteiner, Krombacher, Erdinger and Bitburger, and retailer Oetker Group.
The magazine said these companies control nearly half of Germany's beer market and the regulator is probing whether they artificially inflated the price of about 24 brands of beer including Beck's, Holsten, Jever and Warsteiner.
Carlsberg, Warsteiner and Bitburger have confirmed that they were under investigation, but refused to comment any further.
A spokesperson for the German Federal Cartel Office said that the probe was launched in September 2012 and is currently in its final stages.
The German Federal Cartel Office is also probing three top European steelmakers over price fixing of steel products supplied to the automobile industry. (See: German regulator raids ArcelorMittal, Voestalpine offices over price fixing)