Competition record
Kone
Deep profile · 1 linked library matter
Kone is a Finnish company that makes and services elevators and escalators. In the 2007 EU decision, which fined the makers about €992 million, Kone received a leniency reduction as the first applicant.
Overview
Kone, based in Finland, manufactures elevators and escalators and maintains them after installation. A building owner who buys a Kone lift often stays with Kone for service, because the equipment, the parts, and the technicians are tied together in practice. The European market was shared with Otis, Schindler, and ThyssenKrupp.
Those four makers divided countries and customers, rigged bids on big projects, and exchanged prices. A developer asking for competing tenders on a new bank tower could receive bids that had already been allocated. In 2007 the Commission fined the cartel about €992 million.
Kone was the first company to apply for leniency and received a reduction for that cooperation. The library status is still fined. A reduction is not a finding that Kone was absent from the cartel. This profile does not state Kone's fine after the reduction, or any other maker's individual fine.
Competition footprint
New installation and later maintenance are both markets the cartel covered.
Country allocation meant a project in one member state was reserved for a chosen maker.
About €992 million is the 2007 total, and Kone's own figure is not stated here.
Consumer & business angle
Developers and public authorities paid for lifts that had not been honestly tendered.
Building owners on maintenance contracts were locked into service markets the cartel also carved up.
What to watch
- Damages actions by project owners and public buyers of elevators.
- How a first leniency applicant is described: fined, with a reduction, and still a participant.
Markets
elevators · escalators · lift maintenance
Also known as: kone, kone elevators