Poland/Enterprises/Computers
Warsaw (Puls Biznesu) – Three biggest IT distributors in Poland, ABC Data (a subsidiary of German Actebis), Tech Data (world’s largest distributing company) and AB (owned by Enterprise Investors, Poland’s largest venture capital funds group) are accused by the fourth player – Incom – for cartel agreement. Incom is going to file a suit in the antymonopoly office UOKiK. If the companies have created a cartel they may be filed with a fine of 10 percent of sales. The case concerns the sale of Samsung laser printers. Before, the three accused companies were distributing the printers, they have already sold 25 thousand items. In November 2004, also Incom from Wroclaw, western Poland, received a contract. Five days later the three distributors cancelled their orders from Samsung, allegedly until it gives up cooperation with Incom.
‘What Samsung did was not fair because we learnt out of a sudden that the company was going to cooperate with Income’, an anonymous employer of ABC Data told ‘Puls Biznesu’. ‘This is no cartel. We just do not want to distribute those printers because we are not able to compete with Incom, who offers very aggressive prices’, Andrzej Sobol, ABC Data CEO explained. Tech Data restarted orders and pretended not to know what was going on. Ireneusz Dabrowski, the head of Tech Data, said that the last order was made on December 15th. Samsung declined to comment. ‘This is an uncomfortable situation for us’, Michal Karlowicz from Samsung said. Incom is convinced that this was a cartel agreement. ‘I’m shocked because it is the first time that distributors give up their orders because a rival appeared. We are going to take all legal steps to fight against it’, Mariusz Jaworski, Incom CEO said.