voestalpine said that German regulators have searched the offices of a German unit of the Austrian steel group on suspicion of unspecified anti competitive practices in the rail market.

The unit is the voestalpine Kloeckner Bahntechnik GmbH in the western German city of Duisburg, which trades rails for the Division Railway Systems division of Voestalpine.

voestalpine said that "voestalpine AG takes these allegations seriously and will openly and fully cooperate with the authorities."

Germany's Federal Cartel Office was not immediately available for comment.

(Sourced from www.reuters.com)