Reuters: Regulatory News: UPDATE 1-Sweden's Autoliv to plead guilty to price fixing

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UPDATE 1-Sweden's Autoliv to plead guilty to price fixing Jun 6th 2012, 15:42 Wed Jun 6, 2012 11:42am EDT * Autoliv is sixth company caught in auto parts probe * Ten industry executives have agreed to plead guilty * Autoliv said European probe pending WASHINGTON, June 6 (Reuters) - The Swedish auto parts company Autoliv has agreed to plead guilty to conspiring to fix prices of seatbelts, airbags and steering wheels and to pay a $14.5 million fine, the U.S. Justice Department said on Wednesday. The company will also cooperate in the continuing investigation into price fixing of car parts, the department said. The probe has led to agreements to plead guilty from five other companies: Fujikura Ltd, Furukawa Electric Co Ltd , Denso Corp, Yazaki Corp and G.S. Electech. The department also said an executive from Japan's Yazaki Corp had agreed to plead guilty to conspiring to fix prices of automotive wire harnesses, which direct and control a car's electronic components. Kazuhiko Kashimoto has agreed to serve 14 months in prison and pay a $20,000 criminal fine, becoming the 10th person to agree to plead guilty in the auto parts price-fixing probes, the department said. The plea agreement with Autoliv involved a Japanese subsidiary, and the Justice Department agreed to limit future prosecutions to a few specific employees, the company said in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. "Three employees in the sales organization are excluded from the non-prosecution provision of the agreement, but no decision has been communicated by the DOJ regarding these employees," the company said in its filing. Autoliv said it received a grand jury subpoena on the probe in February 2011. "It is simply unacceptable that we have ended up in this situation in the first place," Jan Carlson, Autoliv's president in a news release. "We have cooperated extensively with the DOJ to investigate and rectify the matter as quickly as possible." Autoliv also said in the SEC filing that a similar probe by the European Commission had not concluded and that it was probable that the company's "results and cash flows will be materially adversely impacted" when that probe is resolved. Analysts with Baird Equity Research said that if Autoliv was fined in Europe based only on the Japanese subsidiary, it would create a potential liability of $50 million to $80 million. Autoliv has nearly ten times that in annual cash flow and a strong cash position, making the fine "very manageable," they said in a research note. Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

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