Goldman Sachs was given the fine because of its ownership of the Italian cable maker Prysmian which was found to be guilty of price-fixing in the subsea power cable sector. Goldman Sachs is also liable for the fine as the EU antitrust division found that it had had a decisive influence on Prysmian for over three years. 

Contract language

Jay Modrall, a partner in Norton Rose Fulbright, said: ‘The issue of parent company liability has received a lot of attention in the private equity community. Private equity firms tend to think of their funds and investments as silos, rather than as part of a single group…. The implications of the commission’s practice of imposing fines based on group-wide liability goes beyond the financial exposure. Private equity firms may want to look at their standard M&A contract language to see how this exposure is addressed.’ Source: Financial Times