EU mergers and takeovers (April 14)
BRUSSELS, April 14 (Reuters) - The following are mergers under review by the European Commission and a brief guide to the EU merger process:
APPROVALS AND WITHDRAWALS
None
NEW LISTINGS
-- Swiss agricultural trader Ecom Agroindustrial to acquire Armajaro Holdings' commodity trading arm (notified April 11/deadline May 23)
EXTENSIONS AND OTHER CHANGES
None
FIRST (Other OTC: FSTC - news) -STAGE REVIEWS BY DEADLINE
APRIL 15
-- Deutsche Telekom (Xetra: DTE.DE - news) to acquire control of GTS Central Europe from a consortium of international private equity firms (notified March 11/deadline April 15)
APRIL 22
-- Australian investment fund AMP Capital Investors Ltd to acquire joint control of Luxembourg-based train leasing company Alpha Trains (Luxembourg) Holdings Sari (notified March 13/deadline April 22/simplified)
APRIL 23
-- Mexican cement producer Cemex to acquire Swiss peer Holcim (Other OTC: HCMLF - news) 's Spanish cement business (notified Feb. 28/deadline extended to April 23 from April 4 after Cemex submitted concessions)
APRIL 24
-- British engineering group John Wood (Other OTC: WDGJF - news) and German peer Siemens to form a joint venture (notified March 17/deadline April 24)
-- Japanese spirits maker Suntory Holdings Ltd to buy U.S. spirits company Beam Inc (NYSE: BEAM - news) (notified March 17/deadline April 24)
APRIL 25
-- Sweden's Volvo Construction Eequipment Aktiebolag to buy truck maker Terex Equipment Ltd (notified March 18/deadline April 25)
APRIL 29
-- Private equity firm Silver Lake to acquire U.S. talent agencies William Morris Endeavour Entertainment LLC and IMG Worldwide Holdings Inc (notified March 20/deadline April 29/simplified)
-- Private equity funds Bain Capital and Anchorage Capital to jointly acquire bathroom products maker Ideal Standard, which is now solely controlled by Bain Capital (notified March 20/deadline April 29/simplified)
-- British oil company DCC Energy to acquire Swedish motor fuels distributors Qstar Forsaljning, Qstar AB and Swedish payment cards software maker Card Network Solutions Europe AB (notified March 20/deadline April 29)
APRIL 30
-- British insurer Rothesay Life to buy Metlife Assurance (notified March 21/deadline April 30)
MAY 5
-- U.S. cable company Liberty Global (NasdaqGS: LBTYA - news) to acquire Dutch peer Ziggo (Dusseldorf: ZGG.DU - news) (notified March 4/deadline extended to May 5 from April 23 after the Dutch competition authority asked to review the case)
-- Swiss-based chemicals company Ineos to buy South African petrochemicals group Sasol (Frankfurt: SAOA.F - news) Ltd's German solvent business (notified March 25/deadline May 5)
MAY 7
-- Brookfield Infrastructure Fund to buy joint control of U.S. container terminal operator APM Terminals North America Inc which is now solely owned by New York (Frankfurt: HX6.F - news) port operator APM Terminals Elizabeth LLC (notified March 27/deadline May 7/simplified)
MAY 8
-- Chinese PC maker Lenovo to International Business Machine Corp's low-end server business (notified March 28/deadline May 8/simplified)
MAY 14
-- French water and waste group Veolia Environnement to acquire control of energy services company Dalkia International which is now jointly controlled by Veolia and French utility group EDF (EUREX: DE000A1XQ1S7.EX - news) (notified April 2/deadline May 14/simplified)
MAY 15
-- Swedish farmers group Lantmannen and Finnish timber and bioenergy company Vapo to combine their Swedish and Latvian wood pellets businesses (notified April 3/deadline May 15)
MAY 16
-- French insurer Axa (Paris: FR0000120628 - news) and Canadian pension fund Public Sector Pension Investment Board to jointly acquire real estate assets in Milan, Italy (notified April 4/deadline May 16/simplified)
-- U.S. auto parts maker Visteon Corp (Other OTC: VSTOW - news) to acquire U.S. car parts maker Johnson Controls (NYSE: JCI - news) ' car electronics business (notified April 4/deadline May 16)
-- Dutch farmers cooperative Agrifirm and German agricultural products trader Baywa AG (Xetra: BYW.DE - news) to set up a joint venture (notified April 4/deadline May 16/simplified)
-- Swiss food company Nestle (VTX: NESN.VX - news) to acquire sole control of dermatology company Galderma, which is now jointly controlled by Nestle and French cosmetics company L'oreal S.A. (notified April 4/deadline May 16/simplified)
-- Switzerland-based INEOS and Belgian chemicals company Solvay (Other OTC: SVYZY - news) to form a joint venture (notified Sept. 16/deadline extended to May 16 after additional concessions offered)
JUNE 23
-- Spanish telecoms provider Telefonica (Madrid: TEF.MC - news) to buy Dutch peer KPN (Amsterdam: KPN.AS - news) 's German unit (notified Oct. 31/deadline extended for the second time to June 23 from May 28 after Telefonica offered concessions)
JULY 8
-- Swiss cement maker Holcim to buy some of Mexican peer Cemex's assets in Europe . (notified Sept. 3/deadline extended for the third time to July 8 from May 2)
AUG 29
-- U.S. chemical maker Huntsman Corp to acquire U.S. peer Rockwood Holdings (Frankfurt: R6H.F - news) 's titanium dioxide pigments business (notified Jan. 29/deadline Aug. 20/commitments submitted on March 28)
SUSPENSION OF DEADLINE
-- Hutchison 3G UK to acquire Telefonica Ireland, a unit of Spanish telecoms provider Telefonica (notified Oct. 1/deadline suspended while the Commission waits for details of Hutchison's revised concessions)
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. (Editing by Foo Yun Chee)