UN Unilever NV

The French anti-trust authority has fined laundry detergent makers a combined EUR361 million after finding they had formed a cartel between 1997 and 2004 to coordinate prices to French retailers.

The four largest laundry detergent makers on French market--Amsterdam-listed Unilever (UNA.AE), Germany-based Henkel AG & Co KGaA (HENKY) and U.S giants Colgate Palmolive Co. (CL) and Procter & Gamble Co. (PG)--agreed to coordinate their commercial strategy on all their products during the seven-year period, albeit with an interruption between October 1998 and November 1999, the watchdog said in a statement Thursday.

"Between 1997 and 2004, the four companies met secretly several times a year in hotels and restaurants to discuss the price and discount strategies," the statement said. The companies would agree on the prices offered to supermarkets and other retailers in France with the purpose to limit the competition on their market and the agreement involved all the main brands on the French market, the watchdog said.

The anti-trust authority waived the fine on Unilever after its officials collaborated with the investigation and provided crucial information, the statement said.

The French anti-trust watchdog established different amounts for the fines taking into account the seriousness of the fact, the damages caused to the country's economy, the individual situation of each company and its world size and the aid each provided to the investigation.

Procter & Gamble was fined EUR233.6 million, Henkel was fined EUR92.3 million and Colgate Palmolive was fined EUR35.4 million.

-By Inti Landauro, Dow Jones Newswires; +33 1 4017 1740; inti.landauro@dowjones.com

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