Agfa

Agfa-Gevaert N.V. is a Belgian-German multinational corporation that develops, manufactures, and distributes analogue and digital imaging products, software, and systems. Its global headquarters are in Mortsel in Belgium. The company began in 1867 near Berlin, as a dye manufacturer under the name Aktien-Gesellschaft für Anilin-Fabrikation (AGFA). One of its early creations was the Rodinal film developer. In 1925, the company merged with several other German chemical companies to become chemicals giant IG Farben. One of its most notable inventions was the Agfacolor-Neu color film strip in 1936. After the war, it based itself in Leverkusen. AGFA was reconstituted (as a subsidiary of Bayer) from the remnants of IG Farben in 1952. It merged with Gevaert Photo-Producten of Belgium in 1964. At its peak, Agfa was one of the big three giants of photographic film alongside Eastman Kodak and Fujifilm. Agfa photographic film and cameras were once prominent consumer products. In 2004, the consumer imaging division was spun-off into an independent AgfaPhoto (which itself filed for bankruptcy after a year and now licenses its name to other companies). Ever since then, Agfa-Gevaert's commerce is 100% business-to-business.