cite any sources . please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . november 2015 learn how and when to remove this template message agc glass europe is an international group based in brussels which produces processes and distributes flat glass for the construction industry external glazing and indoor decorative glass the automotive industry solar applications and certain specialized industries glazing for railway and subway cars and ships glass for domestic appliances and various high tech applications . it is the european branch of the agc group asahi glass co. ltd . agc glass europe currently employs some 14 500 people . 1 its industrial facilities comprise 18 float glass lines 10 automotive glass processing centres and more than 100 distribution processing units in europe stretching from spain to russia . contents 1 history 2 industrial facilities 3 products 4 workforce 5 price fixing scandal 6 see also 7 references 8 external links history edit 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 m caniques belges . in 1972 the french bsn boussois souchon neuvesel group now danone gained control over glaverbel . 2 glaverbel started with a restructuring program and diversified into glass processing in 1974 . citation needed in 1981 bsn shed its flat glass activities and the asahi glass co. ltd. of japan acquired glaverbel . in 1987 glaverbel was registered at the brussels stock exchange and in 1991 expanded into central europe with the acquisition of glavunion in czechoslovakia . 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 and italy . 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 . 2 industrial facilities edit agc glass europe has industrial facilities throughout europe from spain to russia with 18 float lines 10 automotive glass processing centres and more than 100 distribution processing units . citation needed products edit agc glass europe develops produces processes and markets glass products for the construction industry all types of building the automotive industry all car windows and other specialised industries transport domestic appliances etc. . special glasses include antibacterial glass which kills 99.9 % of bacteria on its surface . the two main activities of agc glass europe are producing flat glass in large dimensions raw glass on the one hand and processing it into finished or semi finished products processed glass on the other . these activities are further subdivided according to the field of application of the products concerned fa ades & architecture interior & design automotive rail & ship transport and solar . workforce edit agc glass europe employs some 14 500 people . 1 price fixing scandal edit 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 ; 348.2 m by the european commission on 28 november 2007 for illegally co coordinating price rises . 3 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 of the us pilkington the uk unit of nippon sheet glass and saint gobain of france ; all four of which together controlled 80 % of europe s market for flat glass . 4 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 . 5 6 see also edit luc willame arthur ulens glass production references edit a b agc glass europe profile archived march 7 2016 at the wayback machine . www.agc glass.eu . retrieved 7 february 2016 . a b agc glass europe history archived january 31 2016 at the wayback machine . www.agc glass.eu . retrieved 7 february 2016 . guardian pilkington asahi and saint gobain fined for price fixing press release antitrust commission fines flat glass producers 486.9 million for price fixing cartel european commission 28 november 2007 . retrieved 7 february 2016 . price fixing glass makers fined bbc 28 november 2007 . retrieved 7 february 2016 . kroes shatters glass cartel archived july 22 2011 at the wayback machine . neweurope 1 december 2007 . retrieved 8 february 2016 . external links edit wikimedia commons has media related to agc glass europe . agc glass europe retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title agc glass europe & oldid 742011997 categories glassmaking companiesprice fixing convictionshidden categories articles with wayback machine linksarticles needing additional references from november 2015all articles needing additional referencesall articles with unsourced statementsarticles with unsourced statements from february 2016articles with unsourced statements from november 2015commons category with local link same as on wikidata navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version in other projects wikimedia commons languages fran aisnederlands edit links this page was last modified on 1 october 2016 at 03 29 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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