EU mergers and takeovers (May 22)

BRUSSELS, May 22 (Reuters) - The following are mergers under review by the European Commission and a brief guide to the EU merger process:

APPROVALS AND WITHDRAWALS

-- Luxembourg's Griffin Real Estate and U.S. investment fund Pimco plan to raise their stake in Polish business space developer Echo Investment to 66 percent (approved May 22)

-- DS Smith Plc (Other OTC: DITHF - news) , a British maker of corrugated cardboard, recycled paper and plastic packaging, to buy Vienna-based packaging business Duropack (approved May 22)

-- Heinz Herrman Thiele, the owner of Knorr Bremwse , to buy rail technology provider Vossloh (Xetra: 766710 - news) , (approved May 21)

NEW LISTINGS

None

EXTENSIONS AND OTHER CHANGES

None

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

JUNE 1

-- German drugs and chemicals maker Merck KGaA (Other OTC: MKGAF - news) to acquire U.S. peer Sigma-Aldrich (notified April 21/deadline June 1)

JUNE 2

-- Private equity firm KKR to acquire negative control rights in online fantasy sports services FanDuel Ltd, which is jointly owned by Comcast, Pentech Fund II Ltd Partnership, Piton Capital Venture Fund, Scottish Enterprise and Shamrock Capital Growth Fund (notified April 22/deadline June 2/simplified)

JUNE 3

-- Deprez Holding to acquire a controlling stake in food processor Greenyard Foods which is now jointly controlled by food and vegetable supplier Univeg Holding BV and horticulture producer Peatinvest NV (notified April 23/deadline June 3/simplified)

JUNE 4

-- Bermuda-based reinsurer ParterRe Ltd and Axis Capital Holdings Ltd to merge (notified April 24/deadline June 4/simplified)

JUNE 5

-- Investment funds Equistone Partners Europe to acquire storage solutions maker Groupe Averys (notified April 27/deadline June 5/simplified)

JUNE 8

-- Private equity firm Advent International to acquire Austrian bank Hypo Group Alpe Adria AG (HGAA) (notified April 28/deadline June 8/simplified)

JUNE 9

-- Chemical holding company International Chemical Investors Group to buy Switzerland-based Ineos' chlorovinyls business (notified April 29/deadline June 9)

-- Private equity firms IDeA Capital Funds SGR S.p.A, IP Investimenti e Partecipazioni S.r.l. and Hunt Capital S.A. to jointly acquire orthopaedic products maker Corin Group PLC (notified April 29/deadline June 9/simplified)

JUNE 10

-- Singapore-based commodities firm Olam International Ltd to aquire Archer Daniels Midland Co's cocoa business (notified April 30/deadline June 10)

JUNE 11

-- U.S. flooring products maker Mohawk Industries (NYSE: MHK - news) to buy Luxembourg-based International Flooring Systems (notified March 2/deadline extended to June 11 from May 28 after the companies offered concessions)

-- U.S. metals company Alcoa (NYSE: AA - news) to acquire U.S. titanium supplier RTI International Metals (NYSE: RTI - news) (notified May 4/deadline June 11)

-- U.S. packaging company Plastipak to acquire Spanish peer Appe Packaging Inc(notified May 4/deadline June 11)

JUNE 16

-- Steel producers Feralpi Siderurgica and Duferco, which is part of Swiss-based Duferco International Trading Holding, to acquire Italian peer Lucchini SpA Servola SpA (notified May 7/deadline June 16/simplified)

JUNE 18

-- Canada Life Group UK Ltd, which is a unit of Great-West Lifeco Inc, to acquire Irish insurer Legal & General (LSE: LGEN.L - news) International (Ireland (Other OTC: IRLD - news) ) Ltd, which is a unit of British insurer Legal & General Group (notified May 11/deadline June 18/simplified)

JUNE 19

-- German food group Dr Oetker to acquire German frozen cake copany Coppenrath & Wiese (notified March 20/deadline June 19/simplified)

-- Finnish energy company Stl to acquire joint control of aviation Fuelling Service Norway AS, which is part of oil producer Royal Dutch Shell Keele Oy (notified May 12/deadline June 19)

JUNE 22

-- Singapore's Flextronics to acquire French telecoms company Alcatel (Paris: FR0000130007 - news) -Lucent's Italian assets (notified May 13/deadline June 22/simplified)

-- U.S. telecoms equipment maker CommScope Holding Co Inc to buy Swiss electronics firm TE Connectivity (NYSE: TEL - news) 's network gear business BNS (notified May 13/deadline June 22)

JUNE 23

-- U.S. private equity firm Lindsay Goldberg to acquire German metal producer VDM Metals group (notified May 18/deadline June 23/simplified)

-- German car parts maker Mahle Behr to acquire U.S. car parts maker Delphi's Thermal Systems unit (notified May 18/deadline June 23)

JUNE 24

-- Public Sector Pension Investment Board and Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Board to jointly acquire Tonopah Solar Energy Holdings (notified May 19/deadline June 24/simplified)

JUNE 26

-- PRS for Music Ltd (PRSfM), Foreningen Svenska Tonsattares Internationella Mysikbyra (Stim) and Gesellschaft für musikalische Aufführungs- und mechanische Vervielfältigungsrechte (Gema) to set up a joint venture to administer mechanical and performing rights (notified Nov. 28/deadline June 26/companies offer commitments on March 13)

JULY 24

-- German conglomerate Siemens (Xetra: SIEC.DE - news) to purchase U.S. oilfield equipment maker Dresser-Rand Group Inc (notified Jan. 9/deadline July 24)

AUG 6

-- Commodities trader Cargill to buy rival Archer Daniels Midland Co's global chocolate business (notified Jan. 19/deadline extended for the second time to Aug. 6 from July 23 after the companies asked for more time)

AUG 21

-- U.S. conglomerate General Electric to acquire most of French engineering group Alstom (Paris: FR0010220475 - news) 's power equipment business (notified Jan. 19/deadline extended for the third time to Aug. 21 from Aug. 6)

SEPT 2

-- Norwegian telecoms company Telenor (Other OTC: TELNF - news) and Swedish peer TeliaSonera to combine their Danish mobile businesses (notified Feb. 27/deadline extended to Sept. 2 from Aug. 19 after the companies asked for more time)

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.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)