AGC Glass Europe is an international glass manufacturing group based in

Louvain-la-Neuve Louvain-la-Neuve (; French for "New Leuven"; ) is a planned town in the municipality of Ottignies-Louvain-la-Neuve, Wallonia, Belgium, situated 30 km southeast of Brussels, in the province of Walloon Brabant. The town was built to house th ...

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

, and the European branch of the

AGC Inc. , formerly Asahi Glass Co., Ltd.'(旭硝子株式会社), is a Japanese global glass manufacturing company, headquartered in Tokyo. It is the largest glass company in the world and one of the core Mitsubishi companies. The company is listed on t ...

Group. AGC Glass Europe currently employs some 14,500 people."AGC Glass Europe: Profile"
, www.agc-glass.eu. Retrieved 7 February 2016. Its industrial facilities comprise 18 float glass lines, 10 automotive glass processing centres and more than 100 distribution-processing units in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

, stretching from

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

History

''Glaverbel'' was founded in 1961 in Belgium out of the merger of ''Glaver S.A.'' (Glaces et Verres) and ''Univerbel S.A.'' (Union des Verreries Mécaniques Belges). In 1972, the French ''BSN'' (Boussois-Souchon-Neuvesel) group (now

Danone Danone S.A. () is a French multinational corporation, multinational food-products corporation based in Paris. It was founded in 1919 in Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain. It is listed on Euronext Paris, where it is a component of the CAC 40 stock mark ...

) gained control over Glaverbel. Glaverbel started with a restructuring program and diversified into

glass Glass is an amorphous (non-crystalline solid, non-crystalline) solid. Because it is often transparency and translucency, transparent and chemically inert, glass has found widespread practical, technological, and decorative use in window pane ...

processing in 1974. In 1981, BSN shed its flat glass activities and the ''Asahi Glass Co. Ltd.'' of

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

acquired Glaverbel. In 1987, Glaverbel was registered at the

Brussels stock exchange The Brussels Stock Exchange ( ; ), abbreviated to BSE, was founded in Brussels, Belgium, by decree of Napoleon in 1801. In 2002, the BSE merged with the Amsterdam Stock Exchange, Amsterdam, Lisbon Stock Exchange, Lisbon and Paris Bourse, Paris ...

and in 1991, expanded into

Central Europe Central Europe is a geographical region of Europe between Eastern Europe, Eastern, Southern Europe, Southern, Western Europe, Western and Northern Europe, Northern Europe. Central Europe is known for its cultural diversity; however, countries in ...

with the acquisition of ''Glavunion'' in

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

. Glaverbel was the first western industrial company to invest in Czechoslovakia, and in 1997, the first western glass producer to invest in Russia. In 1998, Glaverbel acquired the European glass activities of '' PPG Glass Industries'', mainly located in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

and

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. In 2002, AGC acquired the whole of Glaverbel, and was deregistered from the Brussels stock exchange. In 2007, Glaverbel was renamed as ''AGC Flat Glass Europe'' and in 2010, ''AGC Glass Europe''."AGC Glass Europe: History"
, www.agc-glass.eu. Retrieved 7 February 2016. Jean-François Heris is AGC Glass Europe President and CEO to date. AGC Glass Europe employs around 14,500 people. Splintex was being a brand of automotive glasses which was being owned by Glaverbel Group until 2007. In 2015, AGC acquired Polish automotive glass manufacturer NordGlass.

Price-fixing scandal

AGC Flat Glass Europe (Glaverbel) is one of the four glass manufacturers who were fined a total of 486.9 million euros ($717.5 million; £348.2m) by the European Commission on 28 November 2007, for illegally co-coordinating price rises. The European Commission said the firm had raised or stabilised prices in 2004 and 2005, through illicit contacts with the other principal glass manufacturers:

Guardian Industries Guardian Industries is a privately held industrial manufacturer of glass, automotive and building products based in Auburn Hills, Michigan. The company manufactures float glass, fabricated glass products, fiberglass insulation and building materi ...

of the US,

Pilkington Pilkington is a glass-manufacturing company which is based in Lathom, Lancashire, England. It includes several legal entities in the UK, and is a subsidiary of Japanese company Nippon Sheet Glass (NSG). It was formerly an independent company ...

(the UK unit of

Nippon Sheet Glass is a Japanese glass manufacturing company. In 2006, it acquired Pilkington of the United Kingdom. This makes NSG/Pilkington one of the four largest glass companies in the world alongside another Japanese company Asahi Glass, Saint-Gobain, an ...

), and

Saint-Gobain Compagnie de Saint-Gobain S.A. () is a French multinational corporation, founded in 1665 in Paris as the Manufacture royale de glaces de miroirs, and today headquartered on the outskirts of Paris, at La Défense and in Courbevoie. Originally a ...

of France; all four of which together controlled 80% of Europe's market for flat glass.

Neelie Kroes Neelie Kroes (; born 19 July 1941) is a retired Dutch politician of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) and businessperson who served as European Commissioner from 22 November 2004 to 1 November 2014. Kroes studied Economics at ...

, the EU's competition commissioner, said that the EU would "not tolerate companies cheating consumers and business customers by fixing prices and depriving them of the benefits of the single market"."Kroes shatters glass cartel"
, NewEurope (1 December 2007). Retrieved 8 February 2016.

References

External links

*{{official website, https://www.agc-glass.eu Manufacturing companies established in 1961 Glassmaking companies of Belgium Companies based in Walloon Brabant Ottignies-Louvain-la-Neuve Price fixing convictions Belgian companies established in 1961

History

Price-fixing scandal

See also

References

External links