Austria’s antitrust court has imposed a record €146 million fine on construction group STRABAG AG for its role in a long-running cartel in the country’s construction sector. The decision by the Vienna Cartel Court marks the largest antitrust penalty ever issued in Austria.
The sanction follows modification proceedings initiated by the Austrian Federal Competition Authority (BWB), which had requested that the court increase an earlier fine of €45.37 million imposed in 2021. The revised amount reflects an additional €100.63 million accepted by STRABAG through a settlement reached in March 2026, bringing the total penalty to €146 million.
The case forms part of one of the most extensive cartel investigations in Austria’s post-war history. According to the competition authority, more than 20 construction companies were involved in a network of illegal coordination affecting thousands of public and private construction projects across the country, including building works and road infrastructure. Natalie Harsdorf, head of the BWB, described the scheme as “the largest cartel of the Second Republic,” referring to the period of Austrian democracy established after the Second World War.
STRABAG, one of Europe’s largest construction companies, reported revenues of about €20.4 billion in 2025 and focuses primarily on civil engineering and large transport infrastructure projects in Central and Eastern Europe. The company is majority owned by an Austrian family group alongside investors including insurer UNIQA and a holding linked to Russian businessman Oleg Deripaska.
The cartel conduct covered the period from 2002 to 2017 and involved illegal coordination practices such as price fixing, market allocation and exchanges of sensitive information related to tenders for building and civil engineering projects. These activities were found to violate both Austrian cartel law and Article 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.
STRABAG accepted the increased fine as part of the settlement, a move intended to avoid further lengthy litigation after Austria’s Supreme Court ordered the case to be reconsidered in 2023. In a statement, the company said the agreement represents “another important step towards definitively resolving the major construction industry cartel case.”
The investigation itself dates back to dawn raids carried out in 2017 at numerous construction firms. Authorities say the proceedings highlight the scale of collusion that can occur in public procurement markets and the importance of enforcement tools such as leniency and settlements in uncovering complex cartels.