Tribunal approves amendment to payment terms of AMSA’s R1.5bn settlement agreement

The Competition Tribunal has approved a variation agreement allowing ArcelorMittal South Africa (AMSA) to pay the first R300-million instalment of its R1.5-billion fine in three tranches.   In late 2016, AMSA concluded a settlement agreement with the Competition Commission in terms of which it had agreed to pay an administrative penalty of R1.5-billion. This follows after it admitted to having engaged in collusion with Cisco, Scaw and Cape Gate by fixing prices and discounts, allocating customers and sharing commercially sensitive information in the market for the manufacture of long steel products, and that it fixed the purchased price of scrap metal with Columbus Steel, Cape Gate and Scaw.   In terms of the agreement with the commission, the penalty was to be paid in five yearly instalments of R300-million each, with the first instalment due in November 2017.    The parties approached the tribunal for a variation of that agreement.