Takeda, Eisai, Daiichi Plead Guilty In Criminal "Vitamin Cartel" Case
This article was originally published in The Tan Sheet
Executive Summary
Three Japanese vitamin manufacturers have agreed to plead guilty to charges associated with "a worldwide conspiracy to raise and fix prices and allocate market shares for certain vitamins sold in the U.S. and elsewhere," the Department of Justice announced Sept. 9.
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Vitamin price fixing
European Commission levies $751.3 mil. fine against eight firms Nov. 21 "for participating in...distinct secret market-sharing and price-fixing cartels affecting vitamin product" from September 1989 to February 1999. Firms charged are Hoffmann-La Roche, BASF, Aventis, Merck KgaA, Solvay Pharmaceuticals, Daiichi Pharmaceutical, Eisai and Takeda Chemical Industries. Since Hoffmann-La Roche "participated in all the cartels," it received the highest fine of $405.9 mil. (1 Euro=$.878). EC decision comes roughly two years after the U.S. Department of Justice levied criminal fines of more than $850 mil. (1"The Tan Sheet" Sept. 13, 1999, p. 4)...
BASF Global Vitamin Presence Strengthened With Takeda Combination
BASF's agreement to combine its bulk vitamins business with that of Takeda Chemical Industries considerably strengthens the chemical giant's position in the global vitamins market.
BASF and Takeda Chemical Industries
German and Japanese firms announce July 28 they will combine their bulk vitamins businesses. Following regulatory approvals, the combined operation will have an estimated 30% share of the worldwide vitamins market, the companies report. BASF sales to the pharmaceutical, food and animal nutrition industries totaled roughly $500 mil. in 1999; Takeda's global sales to the same industries were approximately $240 mil. The proposed merger closely follows a landmark vitamin price-fixing case in which both BASF and Takeda pleaded guilty (1"The Tan Sheet" Sept. 13, 1999, p. 4)