The Competition Tribunal on Wednesday confirmed the settlement agreement between the Competition Commission and construction group Aveng after one of its subsidiaries was found guilty of cartel activity.

The settlement agreement was reached in February this year after Aveng admitted that one of its divisions, Steeledale, participated in cartels that operated in both the mesh and the rebar industries in contravention of the Competition Act.

Aveng agreed, as part of the settlement, to pay an administrative penalty of nearly R129 million, to co-operate with the commission in the prosecution of the remaining respondents in the mesh and rebar cases and to co-operate in the commission's construction fast-track settlement process.

The administrative penalty represented 8% of Steeledale's total turnover for 2008.

Settlement agreements must be confirmed by the tribunal in order to be enforceable.