Advertisement
UK markets close in 8 hours 26 minutes
  • FTSE 100

    7,877.05
    0.00 (0.00%)
     
  • FTSE 250

    19,450.67
    0.00 (0.00%)
     
  • AIM

    745.29
    0.00 (0.00%)
     
  • GBP/EUR

    1.1678
    -0.0005 (-0.04%)
     
  • GBP/USD

    1.2433
    -0.0006 (-0.05%)
     
  • Bitcoin GBP

    52,079.89
    +2,923.94 (+5.95%)
     
  • CMC Crypto 200

    1,314.89
    +2.27 (+0.17%)
     
  • S&P 500

    5,011.12
    -11.09 (-0.22%)
     
  • DOW

    37,775.38
    +22.07 (+0.06%)
     
  • CRUDE OIL

    83.90
    +1.17 (+1.41%)
     
  • GOLD FUTURES

    2,399.00
    +1.00 (+0.04%)
     
  • NIKKEI 225

    37,068.35
    -1,011.35 (-2.66%)
     
  • HANG SENG

    16,232.18
    -153.69 (-0.94%)
     
  • DAX

    17,837.40
    +67.38 (+0.38%)
     
  • CAC 40

    8,023.26
    +41.75 (+0.52%)
     

EU mergers and takeovers (May 20)

BRUSSELS, May 20 (Reuters) - The following are mergers under review by the European Commission and a brief guide to the EU merger process:

APPROVALS AND WITHDRAWALS

-- U.S (Other OTC: UBGXF - news) . private equity firm Starwood Capital Group and Banco Sabadell to set up a joint venture to invest in hotels(approved May 17)

-- Property developer Segro (Other OTC: SEGXF - news) and Canada's Public Sector Pension Investment Board to jointly acquire logistics assets in the Czech Republic and Italy, which are now solely controlled by Segro (LSE: SGRO.L - news) (approved May 17)

NEW LISTINGS

-- Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp to acquire Dell's IT (Other OTC: ITGL - news) services unit (notified May 18/deadline June 22/simplified)

ADVERTISEMENT

-- European packaging maker Ardagh to acquire some facilities from beverage can makers Ball and Rexam (notified May 18/deadline June 20/simplified)

EXTENSIONS AND OTHER CHANGES

None

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

MAY 24

-- Private equity (LSE: 0QLS.L - news) firm Towerbrook Capital Partners to acquire information provider Infopro Digital (notified April 13/deadline May 24)

-- Brewer Anheuser-Busch InBev to acquire rival SABMiller (Amsterdam: MI8.AS - news) (notified March 30/deadline extended to May 24 from May 4 after AB Inbev offers concessions)

MAY 26

-- U.S. private equity firms Warburg Pincus and General Atlantic, Italian lender Unicredit (EUREX: DE000A163206.EX - news) and Spanish bank Santander to combine the asset management business of SAM Investment Holdings Limited and Pioneer Global Asset Management S.p.A.(notified April 15/deadline May 26)

-- HeidelbergCement (LSE: 0MG2.L - news) to acquire Italian peer Italcementi (Hamburg: 1086183.HM - news) (notified April 1/deadline extended to May 26 after HeidelbergCement offered concessions)

MAY 27

-- Finnish retailer Kesko (LSE: 0BNS.L - news) to acquire building products supplier Onninen (notified April 18/deadline May 27)

MAY 30

-- Private equity firms Bridgepoint and Summit Partners to jointly acquire software provider Calypso Technology Inc. (notified April 19/deadline May 30/simplified)

JUNE 1

-- Investment fund Apollo Management to acquire Portuguese insurer Acoreana Seguros (notified April 21/deadline June 1/simplified)

-- Air transport services (NasdaqGS: ATSG - news) provider Norwegian and shipping company Shiphold to jointly acquire air crew management services company OSM Aviation (notified April 21/deadline June 1)

JUNE 2

-- Private equity firm Pillarstone, which is indirectly controlled by KKR, to acquire Italian engineering services provider Sirtl (notified April 22/deadline June 2/simplified)

JUNE 3

-- Investment funds Investindustrial V L.P. and Catelli S.r.l. to jointly acquire baby care products maker Artsana (notified April 25/deadline June 3/simplified)

JUNE 8

-- Irish Life to buy Aviva Health and 50.7 percent of shares in GloHealth that it does not currently own. Both are providers of health insurance in Ireland (Other OTC: IRLD - news) . (notified April 28/deadline June 6)

JUNE 9

-- Canada's Fairfax Financial Holdings and Luxembourg-based holding company OPG, which is part of the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System Primary Pension Plan, to acquire joint control of Eurolife ERB Insurance Group Holdings S.A. (notified April 29/deadline June 9/simplified)

-- Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Arentaria Colombia and RCI Banque to set up a joint venture (notified April 29/deadline June 9/simplified)

-- U.S. food service distributor Sysco Corp to acquire peer Brakes Group (notified April 29/deadline June 9)

-- Fairfax Holdings Ltd and OPG Commercial Holdings to acquire joint control of Eurolife ERB Insurance Group Holdings (notified April 29/deadline June 9)

JUNE 13

-- Dutch holding company Hal Investments to acquire 20 percent stake in online retailer Coolblue (notified on May 3/deadline June 13/simplified)

-- Auto parts maker Johnson Controls (NYSE: JCI - news) to buy Ireland-based Tyco International (NYSE: TYC - news) . (notified on May 3/deadline June 13/simplified)

JUNE 14

-- Private equity firms 3i Group and Wood Creek Capital Management LLC to jointly acquire Wireless Infrastructure Group (notified May 4/deadline June 14/simplified)

-- Hearst Communications Inc and Advance Publications to set up a joint venture (notified May 4/deadline June 14/simplified)

-- France's Credit Mutuel to acquire GE Capital's factoring and equipment financing businesses in France and Germany (notified on May 4/deadline June 14)

JUNE 15

-- Private equity firms Apax Partners and management services provider Accenture (NYSE: ACN - news) to acquire joint control of U.S. insurance software developer Duck Creek Technologies (notified May 10/deadline June 15/simplified)

-- Malaysian state-owned investment fund Khazanah Nasional Bhd and Japan's Mitsui & Co to set up a joint venture (notified May 10/deadline June 15/simplified)

-- Private equity firm KKR to acquire indirect control of Airbus' defence electronics unit (notified May 10/deadline June 15/simplified)

-- French biochemicals company Avril and French investment fund Societes de Projets Industriels to acquire joint control of biochemicals producer Evertree (notified April 28/deadline June 8/simplified)

-- U.S. industrial products maker ITW to acquire German car parts maker ZF TRW Automotives Corp's fasteners and car components business EF&C (notified May 10/deadline June 15)

-- U.S. payments network operator Visa Inc (Xetra: A0NC7B - news) to acquire Visa Europe (notified May 10/deadline June 15/simplified)

JUNE 17

-- Spanish lender Caixabank (Amsterdam: CB6.AS - news) to acquire Portugal's Banco BPI (notified May 12/deadline June 17/simplified)

-- Swiss-based chemicals company Ineos to acquire full control of UK peer Inovyn (notified May 12/deadline June 17/simplified)

-- Danish food company Danish Crown to acquire sole control of meat trader SPF-Denmark (notified May 12/deadline June 17/simplified)

JUNE 20

-- Hon Hai Precision, also known as Foxconn, intends to buy a majority of Japanese electronics company Sharp (notified on May 13/deadline June 20)

-- Dublin-based support services group DCC Holding to acquire retail fuel and aviation fuel provider Dansk Fuels (notified on May 13/deadline June 20)

-- PitPoint and Primagaz Nederland to take joint control of PitPoint LNG, a liquefied natural gas provider in the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Germany (notified on May 13/deadline June 20/simplified)

JUNE 25

-- Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board and Global Infrastructure Management to acquire joint control of the freight haulage company Pacific Natonal of Australia's Asciano (Dusseldorf: 02A1.DU - news) (notified on May 14/deadline June 25/simplified)

AUG 10

-- 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 Aug. 10 from July 27/concessions offered May 4)

AUG 18

-- CK Hutchison Holdings Ltd and Vimpelcom to merge their Italian mobile operations (notified Feb. 5/deadline extended to Aug 18 from Aug. 10 after the companies asked for more time)

SEPT 20

-- U.S. rail equipment maker Wabtec Corp to acquire French peer Faiveley Transport SA (notified April 4/deadline extended to Sept. 20 from May 12 after the European 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 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 Foo Yun Chee)