Melbourne, July 22 - Australian packaging group Amcor Ltd has agreed to settle a lawsuit brought by Cadbury, it said on Wednesday, after the UK confectionary giant sued Amcor for A$236 million ($193 million) for overcharging on cardboard boxes, plastic bottles and aluminium cans.
Amcor said the terms of the resolution were not expected to have a material impact on Amcor's financial position.
"Cadbury Australia and New Zealand is pleased that a confidential settlement has been reached in its long-running litigation action against Amcor," Cadbury spokesman Daniel Ellis said, adding he could not give details on the exact settlement.
Cadbury Schweppes sued Amcor after the packaging group's board alerted Australia's competition regulator in 2004 that employees at Amcor had been involved in price fixing on cardboard boxes with privately owned Visy Group for nearly five years.
Amcor won immunity from prosecution for blowing the whistle on the cartel, while Visy was found guilty and fined A$36 million, a record penalty for cartel activity in Australia.
When the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission won its case against Visy it said the case was "one of the most serious, blatant cartels" it had ever pursued.
"Anyone in the past who has bought a block of chocolate or a piece of fruit packed in a box made by Visy or Amcor has probably been ripped off," commission chairman Graeme Samuel said in 2007.
Hearings on Cadbury's case, which alleged that the packaging cartel included cardboard boxes, cans and plastic bottles, had been due to begin in the Federal Court in Melbourne on Wednesday.
Amcor said a further announcement would be made when the terms of the resolution are finalised. ($1=1.225 Australian Dollar)