The French competition council on Tuesday slapped a fine of about 302 million euros ($415 million) on ArcelorMittal, the steel giant led by the India-born Lakshmi Mittal, after a four-and-a-half-year probe into anti-competitive practices in steel sector.
"The Conseil de la Concurrence (the French competition council) has imposed 301.78 million euros fine on French subsidiaries of ArcelorMittal active in steel distribution (in France)," the company said in a statement.
Three of the ArcelorMittal's group firms - PUM Service Acier, Arcelor Profil, AMD Sud Ouest - which operate in the region were fined 288 million euros ($396 million), 12.95 million euros ($18 million) and 830,000 euros ($1.1 million) respectively.
The statement said the company "takes matters of this nature extremely seriously and has a rigorous global compliance programme in place to combat anti-competitive practices".