Abengoa fined $22.5M for ethanol benchmark rigging

In Belgium, Reuters reports that EU antitrust regulators fined Spain’s Abengoa 20 million euros ($22.5 million) on Friday for rigging ethanol benchmarks as part of a crackdown on such practices while investigations into two other companies continue.

The European Commission has levied billion-euro fines in recent years, with regulators on both sides of the Atlantic acting against banks for manipulating financial benchmarks.

It had been investigating Abengoa, Belgian peer Alcogroup and Swedish company Lantmannen on possible rigging of ethanol benchmarks, which are published by energy and commodities information provider S&P Global Platts.

The European Union’s competition watchdog said Spanish engineering and energy group Abengoa admitted taking part in a cartel and coordinated its trading behaviour with other companies from September 2011 to May 2014 and agreed to settle for a reduction in the fine.

The Commission did not name the companies but said investigations were still ongoing.

“Abengoa’s aim was to artificially increase, maintain and/or prevent from decreasing the levels of Platts’ ethanol benchmarks. Abengoa also limited the supply of ethanol delivered to the Rotterdam area,” the Commission said in a statement.