WMT Walmart Inc

   By Patrick Thomas 
 

StarKist Co. said Friday that it has agreed to a $20.5 million settlement with Walmart Inc. (WMT), resolving antitrust complaints brought by the retail giant.

In October, Pittsburgh-based canned tuna producer StarKist pleaded guilty for its role in a conspiracy to fix prices of packaged seafood sold in the U.S., according to the Justice Department. The company is alleged to have fixed the prices of canned tuna fish from November 2011 to December 2013. Walmart alleged in a lawsuit that the company was part of a conspiracy with the two other tuna canning companies.

StarKist, a subsidiary of South Korea's Dongwon Industries Co. will pay Walmart, the largest retailer for canned tuna in the U.S., $20.5 million based on a combination of cash and certain favorable commercial terms, the company said. In a statement, StarKist said it hopes to resolve remaining lawsuits with similar terms.

"The resolution is a business-oriented and reasonable one, which sets a benchmark for resolving remaining matters with our other valued customers," StarKist General Counsel Scott Meece said in a statement

"We are pleased we were able to resolve this matter with StarKist," a spokesman from Walmart said in a statement.

Write to Patrick Thomas at patrick.thomas@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 25, 2019 20:03 ET (01:03 GMT)

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