EU mergers and takeovers (March 14)

BRUSSELS, March 14 (Reuters) - The following are mergers under review by the European Commission and a brief guide to the EU merger process:

APPROVALS AND WITHDRAWALS

-- Private equity (LSE: 0QLS.L - news) firm Equistone Partners Europe to acquire car parts maker Mecaplast Group (approved March 11)

-- British plastic packaging company RPC Group (LSE: RPC.L - news) to acquire French bottle-top maker Global Closure Systems (approved March 11)

NEW LISTINGS

-- Austria's Erste Group Bank (EUREX: EBO.EX - news) and U.S (Other OTC: UBGXF - news) . company Global Payments Inc (NYSE: GPN - news) to acquire joint control of Global Payments s.r.o. (notified March 10/deadline April 19)

EXTENSIONS AND OTHER CHANGES

None

FIRST (Other OTC: FSTC - news) -STAGE REVIEWS BY DEADLINE

MARCH 15

-- China National Chemical Corp (ChemChina) to acquire German industrial machinery maker KraussMaffei Group (notified Feb. 9/deadline March 15)

MARCH 22

-- Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) resin producer Indorama Netherlands to acquire Guadarranque Polyester (notified Feb. 16/deadline March 22)

-- Private equity firm Equistone Partners Europe SAS to acquire car parts maker Mecaplast Group (notified Feb. 16/deadline March 22/simplified)

MARCH 29

-- Statoil Fuel and Retail to acquire fuels business of Dansk Fuels (notified on Feb. 4/deadline extended to March 29 from March 10 after the companies submitted concessions)

MARCH 30

-- CK Hutchison Holdings Ltd and Vimpelcom to merge their Italian mobile operations (notified Feb. 5/deadline extended to March 30 from March 11 after the Italian competition authority requested to take over the case)

-- Japanese employment agency Recruit to acquire Dutch peer USG People (LSE: 0NLS.L - news) (notified Feb. 19/deadline March 30/simplified)

APRIL 1

-- British rivate equity firm Bridgepoint Group to acquire Polish children's apparel and toy store chain SMYK Group (notified Feb. 23/deadline April 1/simplified)

APRIL 6

-- U.S. food containers maker Newell Rubbermaid (NYSE: NWL - news) to acquire Jarden (NYSE: JAH - news) , U.S. maker of Sunbeam and Coleman products maker (notified Feb. 26/deadline April 6/simplified)

-- Global Infrastructure Partners and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board to jointly acquire some businesses from Australian freight company Asciano (Dusseldorf: 02A1.DU - news) (notified Feb. 26/deadline April 6/simplified)

-- Worldline to acquire PaySquare from Equens (notified Feb. 26/deadline April 6)

APRIL 7

-- Hungarian oil and gas group MOL to acquire ENI (Swiss: ENI.SW - news) Hungaria and ENI Slovenia from Italian oil producer Eni (notified Feb. 29/deadline April 7)

-- U.S. private equity firms Warburg Pincus and General Atlantic to jointly acquire U.S. asset management company Pioneer U.S. (notified Feb. 29/deadline April 7/simplified)

-- Private equity firms Apax Partners and Neuberger Berman Acquisition LLC to jointly acquire Italian tech services provider Engineering Ingegneria Informatica SPA (notified Feb. 29/deadline April 7/simplified)

-- U.S. technology consulting company Computer Sciences Corp to acquire British outsourcing company Xchanging Plc (LSE: XCH.L - news) (notified Feb. 29/deadline April 7/simplified)

APRIL 15

-- French container shipping giant CMA CGM to acquire Singaporean rival Neptune Orient Lines (notified March 8/deadline April 15)

MAY 19

-- Hutchison Whampoa to acquire Telefonica (Amsterdam: TA6.AS - news) 's O2 UK subsidiary (notified Sept. 11/deadline extended to May 19 from April 22 after Hutchison (HKSE: 0013-OL.HK - news) offered concessions)

JULY 11

-- Oilfield services provider Halliburton (Hanover: HAL.HA - news) to buy rival Baker Hughes in a stock and cash transaction (notified Nov. 27/deadline extended to July 11 after the Commission resumed its scrutiny of the deal)

JULY 12

-- Airbus Safran Launchers, a 50/50 joint venture between Airbus and Safran (LSE: 0IU8.L - news) , to acquire sole control of satellite group Arianespace (notified on Jan. 8/deadline extended to July 12 from Feb. 26 after the Commission opened an in-depth investigation)

SUSPENDED

-- SOCAR, Azerbaijan's state energy company, to buy stakes in Greek natural gas grid operator DESFA from Greek natural gas utility DEPA (notified Oct (HKSE: 3366-OL.HK - news) . 1/deadline suspended on Jan. 21)

GUIDE TO EU MERGER PROCESS

DEADLINES:

The European Commission has 25 working days after a deal is filed for a first-stage review. It (Other OTC: ITGL - news) may extend that by 10 working days to 35 working days, to consider either a company's proposed remedies or an EU member state's request to handle the case.

Most mergers win approval but occasionally the Commission opens a detailed second-stage investigation for up to 90 additional working days, which it may extend to 105 working days.

SIMPLIFIED:

Under the simplified procedure, the Commission announces the clearance of uncontroversial first-stage mergers without giving any reason for its decision. Cases may be reclassified as non-simplified - that is, ordinary first-stage reviews - until they are approved. (Compiled by Brussels newsroom)