Spain includes Lafarge and Holcim in widened cartel investigation

Spain's competitions watchdog has extended its investigations into the cement and concrete markets to bring in four more companies

The Comisión Nacional de Mercados y Competencia has added Materiales y Hormigones, Lafarge Cementos, Holcim España and Hormibusa to the list of companies it was already looking into.

In December, it had announced the opening of investigations into Betón Catalán, Cementos Molins Industrial, Promotora Mediterránea 2, Hanson Hispania, Cemex España Operaciones, Tenesiver, Comercial Arroyo Construcción, Hormigones Giral, Cementos Portland Valderrivas and Cementos Lemona.

CNMC said that as part of the investigation it has had access to further information and has decided that there are grounds for widening the investigation. The enquiries are focusing on areas including agreements, exchanges of information, pricing and possible market sharing for concrete, cement and related products in contravension of competition law.