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- July 18, 2013, 3:14 p.m. ET

# Panasonic, Sanyo to Pay $56.5 Million for Price Fixing - DOJ

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       By Kristin Jones

Panasonic Corp. (PCRFY, 6752.TO) and its Sanyo Electric unit have agreed to plead guilty and pay a $56.5 million criminal fine for rigging the prices of auto parts and battery cells in the latest penalty to result from the U.S. Justice Department's campaign against price-fixing in the industry.

The Justice Department also said that battery maker LG Chem Ltd. (051910.SE) agreed to plead guilty and pay $1.1 million for price fixing involving battery cells.

Representatives from the companies weren't immediately available for comment.

Panasonic will pay $45.8 million for its role in the conspiracy, while Sanyo will pay $10.7 million, the department said.

Panasonic was charged with conspiring to rig bids and fix the prices of steering wheel switches, turn switches and other parts sold to Toyota Motor Corp. (TM, 7203.TO) in the U.S. and elsewhere from as early as September 2003 until at least February 2010.

The Osaka-based company was also accused of participating in a long-standing conspiracy, lasting from 1998 to 2010, to suppress competition in the auto-parts industry by fixing the prices of ballasts used for high-intensity discharge lamps sold to Honda Motor Co. (HMC, 7267.TO), Mazda Motor of America, and Nissan Motor Co. (NSANY, 7201.TO).

Ten other companies have agreed to plead guilty in the Justice Department's antitrust investigation in the auto-parts sector. The probe has focused on price fixing in a wide array of products, from instrument panels to air bags and steering wheels.

Fifteen executives have also agreed to plead guilty, and will pay a total of around $874 million in criminal fines as a result of the investigation.

In a separate conspiracy, Sanyo and LG Chem from around 2007 to 2008 fixed the prices of cylindrical lithium ion battery cells, a type of rechargeable battery used in laptops.

Thursday's guilty pleas are the first in an investigation into price rigging in the cylindrical lithium ion battery cell industry.

As part of the plea deals, the companies agreed to cooperate in the department's antitrust investigations.

The Justice Department said earlier this week that Diamond Electric Mfg. (6895.TO), a Japanese maker of ignition devices, agreed to plead guilty and pay a $19 million criminal fine for rigging bids and fixing prices on ignition coils, used in automotive fuel-ignition systems, from 2003 until at least early 2010.

Write to Kristin Jones at kristin.jones@dowjones.com

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