The Fair Trade Commission said Monday that it imposed fines against POSCO E&C and Kolon Global after finding evidence that the country’s two major construction firms colluded to rig bid prices in order to share a lucrative contract.

The antitrust regulator will slap combined fines of 12.1 billion won ($11.3 million) on the two companies for the unfair practice, it said.

POSCO E&C, the construction subsidiary of the nation’s largest steelmaker, is believed to have colluded with Kolon in 2009 to manipulate bid prices to steer a contract to one of the wastewater projects run by state-run real estate developer LH Corp.

The two also allegedly colluded in 2011, and at that time Kolon won a bid to build a wastewater treatment plant through the bid-rigging scheme, according to the FTC.

“We believe fierce market competition led them to collude to have rigged bids,” an official from Cartel Investigation Bureau at FTC said.

The country’s antitrust agency has been intensifying inspection and investigation into collusive tendering since the establishment of the Cartel Investigation Bureau in August 2013.

“We’ll look more closely and impose severe disciplinary measures if possible on any illegal business practices,” he added.

(596story@heraldcorp.com)