Grabar Law Office has filed two putative class action lawsuits arises from Defendants’, the major manufacturers of Cement Chemical Additives, alleged unlawful agreement to fix the prices for: (a) concrete admixtures, (b) cement additives, (c) admixtures for mortar, and (d) products containing or bundled with any of the foregoing (collectively, “CCAs”). CCAs, which can be either in liquid or powdered form, are added to concrete, cement, and mortar before or during the aggregate’s mixing with water in order to give the finished product certain qualities, such as reducing the amount of water needed for the aggregate to set, reducing (or increasing) set time, reducing shrinkage, stabilizing or preventing cracking, and inhibiting corrosion. Globally, the market for CCAs reached more than $18 billion in 2020 and $27 billion in 2022.
Defendants—Sika AG and Sika Corporation (collectively, “Sika”); Chryso, Inc. (“Chryso”) and GCP Applied Technologies, Inc. (“GCP”), under the ownership and control of Compagnie de Saint-Gobain S.A. and Saint-Gobain North America (“Saint-Gobain,” and with Chryso and GCP, collectively “Saint-Gobain Group”); Master Builders Solutions Admixtures U.S., LLC, (“MBSA”), under the ownership and control of Master Builders Solutions Deutschland GmbH (“MBSD”), Cinven Ltd., and Cinven, Inc. (“Cinven,” collectively “Master Builders Group”); and The Euclid Chemical Company (“Euclid”), under the ownership and control of RPM International Inc. (“RPM,” and with Euclid, “Euclid Group”)—manufacture and sell the vast majority of CCAs sold in the United States.
Defendants’ alleged unlawful agreement caused direct purchasers of CCAs in the United States and its territories, including Plaintiff and the Class, to pay supra-competitive prices for CCAs sold by Defendants in the United States and its territories from the period beginning no later than May 11, 2018 and running through the date on which any Class herein is certified (the “Class Period”), in violation of Sections 1 and 3 of the Sherman Act (15 U.S.C. §§ 1, 3). Defendants’ scheme included both price increases and the imposition of surcharges on CCAs sold in the United States.
If you would like to learn more about this matter, you are encouraged to contact us at jgrabar@grabarlaw.com, or call Joshua Grabar at 267-507-6085.
