China's antitrust regulator fined bearing-maker NSK Ltd. ¥2.9 billion for violating rules, the first Japanese company to be punished amid an industrywide probe into pricing practices.
NSK said it is cooperating fully with the investigation by China's National Development and Reform Commission into its bearings transactions and will make a further disclosure if the fine has any impact on its full-year forecasts, the Tokyo-based company said in a statement to the Tokyo Stock Exchange on Tuesday.
The NDRC, China's top economic planner with primary responsibility for oversight of pricing, said this month that it had completed an investigation into 12 Japanese companies and will punish violators. China has stepped up scrutiny of pricing practices as the country becomes an increasingly important source of profit for foreign companies.
China's anti-monopoly law allows the government to impose fines of as much as 10 percent of a company's annual revenue. Companies that cooperate can get lighter penalties.