Agfa-Gevaert is "born"!
For the west-german New-Agfa that caused the buying up of smaller manufacturers competing with overseas company doing the same in Germany. And striving for a final solution for their legal issues with their "mother", the east-german Old-Agfa. Which themselves were interested in such settlement too.
But this would not be enough. So the idea came up again to form an alliance with their major european competitor: the belgian Gevaert.
Both companies were of about equal size, both in a strong process of growth. The same time they differed in the markets they meanwhile got their stronghold: Agfa was strongest with consumers, Gevaert with non consumer markets.
In secrecy forms of collaboration were devised which ended in the merger of the two in 1964. Due to the legal situation then in Europe the founding of two new companies on shares was planned: Agfa-Gevaert AG and Gevaert-Agfa NV. Two entities in which Agfa and Gevaert put their plants whereas the shares of each entity were split 50/50.
Together a much stronger No. 2 in the western world emerged, gaining 25% of the production of Kodak.
From the APUG post!