PARIS (Reuters) - Several French IT companies have been searched on suspicion of anti-competitive practices, the country’s competition watchdog said on Friday.

The regulator did not name any of the companies that were targeted but said they were active in the fields of IT services, consulting, engineering and software.

“At this point, these searches obviously do not prejudge the guilt of the companies and organizations that are concerned by these suspected practices...”, the regulator said.

France has a number of large IT and consulting groups, including Alten, Altran, Assystem, Atos, Capgemini and Sopra Steria.