Schneider Among Firms Fined €470 Million in French Cartel Case

Electrical equipment makers Schneider Electric SE and Legrand SA were fined by French antitrust regulators alongside their distributors Rexel SA and Sonepar a total of €470 million ($510 million) over a price fixing pact.

The French competition authority on Wednesday said that the two manufacturers colluded with distributors to fix prices for low-voltage electrical equipment through a special price agreement mechanism.

In addition to these penalties, the companies were charged in 2022 as part of a parallel criminal case in France. No decision has been made about whether they should face trial.

Schneider was hit with the heaviest penalty of ...