March 12, 2026: South Africa’s Metair Investments has confirmed it has launched a legal battle over a fine from the European Commission for breaching EU antitrust rules — as exclusively reported by Batteries International last month.

Metair’s Romanian battery business, Rombat, was fined alongside lead battery majors Exide and FET (including its predecessor Elettra) — together with trade association EUROBAT — a total of around €72 million ($85 million) last December.

Both Metair and Rombat lodged an appeal against the fine on February 27, Metair revealed on March 11. The total fine handed down in respect of Rombat was €20.2 million, representing €11.5 million jointly and severally with Metair.

The move follows a separate appeal by EUROBAT, which said on March 4 it was challenging its €125,000 fine.

Last December, the European Commission named manufacturers it said had, for more than 12 years, entered into “anticompetitive agreements and engaged in concerted practices related to the sale of automotive starter batteries to automotive original equipment manufacturers in the European Economic Area”.

As lead is the most important input material and cost factor for the batteries concerned, battery producers pay a premium to suppliers to procure lead with the necessary quality, the Commission said.

“This cartel restricted competition and may have led to higher prices for the manufacturing of cars and trucks in Europe.”