By Kirsten Bienk
Germany's national railroad company Deutsche Bahn Thursday
confirmed it has filed a suit against steel maker ThyssenKrupp AG
(TKA.XE) and other companies for alleged participation in a rail
pricing cartel.
The Frankfurt court is expected to rule on the amount of any
damages in the coming months, a spokesman at Deutsche Bahn said.
Media reports peg the amount companies would need to pay to
Deutsche Bahn at around 750 million euros ($993.8 million), with
the lion's share of that amount coming from ThyssenKrupp.
ThyssenKrupp said Deutsche Bahn has informed the company of the
suit, but that it hasn't received the lawsuit yet.
"We have been in talks with DB for several months regarding a
settlement and have not given any cause for a suit to be filed at
the present time," ThyssenKrupp said in a statement.
ThyssenKrupp assumes the suit has been filed to prevent the
statute of limitations from expiring, it added. Further, Deutsche
Bahn hasn't specified an amount for the claim, ThyssenKrupp
said.
Separately, in July, Germany's cartel office issued fines
totaling EUR124.5 million to companies in a probe into whether
manufacturers made cartel agreements on the supply of rail to
Germany's Deutsche Bahn, to the disadvantage of the railway
company.
At the time, ThyssenKrupp said it wouldn't contest the cartel
office's fine of EUR103 million.
Write to Kirsten Bienk at kirsten.bienk@dowjones.com
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