Corning offers to waive exclusive deals in EU antitrust probe, may stave off fine

By Foo Yun Chee and Bart H. Meijer

BRUSSELS (Reuters) -Glass maker Corning (NYSE:GLW) has offered to scrap all exclusive clauses in its deals with mobile phone makers and raw glass processing companies to end an investigation, EU antitrust regulators said on Monday, a move which would stave off a possible hefty fine.

The U.S. company, which sells a break resistant glass used as a cover for mobile phones, tablets and smart watches under the Gorilla Glass brand, counts Samsung (KS:005930), Sony (NYSE:SONY), Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL), HP (NYSE:HPQ), Dell (NYSE:DELL) and Nokia (HE:NOKIA) as its customers. Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) is reportedly a customer too.

The European Commission earlier this month launched an antitrust investigation over Corning’s exclusive supply deals that may exclude rival glass producers from large segments of the market.

The EU competition enforcer said Corning has now proposed to waive all exclusive dealing clauses in its agreements and will not require mobile phone makers to buy Alkali-AS Glass from Corning nor offer them any price advantages conditional on such requirements.

As part of its proposed concessions, Corning will also drop requirements that mobile phone makers and raw glass processing companies buy more than 50% of their demand from the company.

The Commission said third parties have six weeks to provide feedback to the offer before deciding whether to accept the concessions with any finding of antitrust breaches. Corning’s offer would for nine years if accepted.

Antitrust violations can cost companies as much as 10% of their global annual turnover.