Romanian watchdog fines construction companies for failing to notify deal

Romania’s Competition Council fined cement, concrete and aggregates producer CRH Ciment Romania and local construction company Comnord for failing to notify a transaction. The fine amounts to EUR 655,900. The Competition Council went for a milder sanction after the two companies admitted to breaking the competition law. The two companies failed to notify the Competition Council about a transaction through which they jointly acquired concrete producer CRH Comnord. The watchdog found out about this transaction only when CRH Ciment asked for the competition authority’s approval to take full control of CRH Comnord. CRH Ciment Romania is part of Irish group CRH, which took over French group Lafarge’s assets in Romania, in 2015. The group owns two cement factories, a grinding station and a network of cement terminals, quarries, aggregate deposits and concrete stations in Romania. editor@romania-insider.com