NSK Ltd. : EU antitrust regulators fine Schaeffler, four others 953 million euros

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union antitrust regulators fined German engineering group Schaeffler , Sweden's SKF and three Japanese car parts makers a total 953.3 million euros ($1.33 billion) on Wednesday for taking part in a ball bearings cartel.

Schaeffler received the biggest fine at 370.5 million euros while SKF's sanction came to 315.1 million euros, the second-largest.

The fines for NTN (>> NTN CORPORATION), NSK (>> NSK Ltd.) and NFC were 201.35 million euros, 62.4 million and 3.96 million respectively. The five companies acknowledged taking part in the cartel in return for a 10 percent cut in their penalties.

JTEKT (>> Jtekt Corp) escaped a sanction as it alerted the cartel to the European Commission.

The EU antitrust authority said the cartel lasted for more than seven years between April 2004 and July 2011.

(This corrected version of the story fixes SKF from SFK)

(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee, edit by Martin Santa and Louise Heavens)

Stocks treated in this article : NSK Ltd., Jtekt Corp, NTN CORPORATION