Asahi Glass Co.

Asahi Glass Co., Ltd. or AGC (旭硝子株式会社, Asahi Garasu Kabushiki-gaisha^?) (TYO: 5201) is a Japanese manufacturing company. It is one of the core Mitsubishi companies.

Founded in 1907 by Toshiya Iwasaki, the second son of the second president of the original Mitsubishi Zaibatsu. It was the first Japanese producer of sheet glass. Asahi Glass Co. is one of the largest flat glass producing companies in the world, owning Glaverbel glass plants across Europe and AFG Industries in North America, and influences the industry as a whole.

Its main areas of production are:

• Automotive glass and industrial material
• Bio-technology and environment
• Commodity and performance chemicals
  • Among performance chemicals, Asahi makes fluoropolymer films, including Fluon ETFE laminate, famous for its use as the external surface of the Allianz Arena football stadium, built in 2005 and the world's largest structure made out of ETFE.
• Display glass
• Electronic materials and products
• Flat glass and construction material
• Optics and telecommunication

Subsidiaries and affiliates

• AGC Chemicals Americas, Inc.
• AGC Chemicals Europe Ltd.
• AIS Glass India. Pty. Ltd.
• Asahi Fiber Glass Co., Ltd.
• Asahi Techno Glass Corp.
• Ise Chemical Industries Co., Ltd.
• Optrex Corp.
• Asahi Glass Foundation
• AGC Flat Glass Europe (formerly known as Glaverbel)

Price-Fixing Scandal in Europe

AGC Flat Glass Europe was one of the four flat-glass manufacturers involved in the 2007 price fixing scandal uncovered by the EU Competition Commission. The European Commission said that the firms had raised or stabilised prices in 2004 and 2005 through illicit contacts.^[1] Neelie Kroes, 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".^[2]

See also

• Luc Willame
• AGC Glass Europe

References

External links

• Company website (in English)