EU mergers and takeovers (Oct 1)

BRUSSELS, Oct (HKSE: 3366-OL.HK - news) 1 (Reuters) - The following are mergers under review by the European Commission and a brief guide to the EU merger process:

APPROVALS AND WITHDRAWALS

-- British energy company Trailstone to acquire German peer Energy2Market GmbH (approved Sept. 30)

-- Private equity firm TDR Capital to acquire Dutch car leasing company LeasePlan Corp N.V. (approved Sept. 30)

-- Private equity firm Permira and Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board to jointly acquire the GFKL Group and the Lowell Group (approved Sept. 30)

NEW LISTINGS

None

EXTENSIONS AND OTHER CHANGES

None

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

OCT 5

-- Cable telecoms company Liberty Global (NasdaqGS: LBTYA - news) 's Belgian subsidiary Telenet (Other OTC: TLGHF - news) to buy mobile network operator Base from Dutch group KPN (notified Aug. 17/deadline extended to Oct. 5 from Sept. 21 after Liberty Global offered commitments)

OCT 9

-- British real estate private equity firm Benson Elliot Capital Management and U.S (Other OTC: UBGXF - news) . private equity investment firm Walton Street Capital LLC to jointly acquire eight hotels (notified Sept. 4/deadline Oct. 9/simplified)

OCT 12

-- U.S. investment firm Colony Capital (NYSE: CLNY - news) and French insurer Axa (Paris: FR0000120628 - news) to jointly acquire data center operator Groupe Data 4 (notified Sept. 7/deadline Oct. 12/simplified)

OCT 13

-- Private equity firm KKE to acquire Swiss software licencing company SoftwareOne Holding AG (notified Sept. 8/deadline Oct. 13/simplified)

OCT 14

-- U.S. chipmaker Intel (Swiss: INTC.SW - news) to acquire U.S. peer Altera (notified Sept. 9/deadline Oct. 14)

OCT 16

-- Italian investment company Exor, the holding company of the Agnelli family, to acquire Bermuda-based reinsurer PartnerRe (notified Sept. 11/deadline Oct. 16/simplified)

-- PGA Motors SAS, which is indirectly controlled by German carmaker Volkswagen AG (Other OTC: VLKAF - news) , to acquire car seller MSA Groupe SAS (notified Sept. 11/deadline Oct. 16)

-- Private equity firms Blackstone Group and Corsair Capital to jointly acquire U.S. investment management firm First Eagle Management (notified Sept. 11/deadline Oct. 16/simplified)

-- Hutchison Whampoa to acquire Telefonica (Amsterdam: TA6.AS - news) 's O2 UK subsidiary (notified Sept. 11/deadline Oct 16)

OCT 19

-- Oil trader Vitol to acquire the other half of storage company VTTI from Malaysian shipping company MISC Bhd (notified Sept. 14/deadline Oct. 19/simplified)

-- Investors Parcom Capital and Pon Holdings to acquire Dutch engineering services company Royal Imtech (Other OTC: IMTEF - news) 's marine unit (notified Sept. 14/deadline Oct. 19)

-- Buyout fund Gilde Fund and Parcom Fund to acquire Dutch textiles and geosynthetics supplier Ten Cate (notified Sept. 14/deadline Oct. 19/simplified)

-- French bank BNP Paribas (Xetra: 887771 - news) to acquire GE Capital Corp's European car leasing business (notified Sept. 14/deadline Oct. 19/simplified)

OCT 20

-- Carlyle Group LP to acquire data storage unit Veritas from antivirus software maker Symantec Corp (notified Sept. 15/deadline Oct. 20/simplified)

OCT 21

-- Private equity firm Hellman & Friedman Capital Partners to acquire Dream Luxco SCA, the holding company of security services provider Securitas Direct Group (notified Sept. 16/deadline Oct. 21/simplified)

OCT 23

-- Also Holding AG, a unit of Germany's Droege International Group AG, to acquire Polish IT company PC Factory S.A. (notified Sept. 18/deadline Oct. 23)

-- Private equity firm Bain Capital to acquire French food producer Davigel Group (notified Sept. 18/deadline Oct. 23/simplified)

OCT 26

-- Chilean-based miner Antofagasta (Other OTC: ANFGF - news) to acquire 50 percent of Canadian minier Barrick Gold Corp's Zaldivar copper mine (notified Sept. 21/deadline Oct. 26/simplified)

OCT 27

-- U.S. plane maker Lockheed Martin (Swiss: LMT.SW - news) to acquire U.S. peer Sikorsky Aircraft from United Technologies Corp (notified Sept. 22/deadline Oct. 27/simplified)

-- Financial industry software maker Fidelity National Information Services (NasdaqGM: III - news) to acquire U.S. peer SunGard Data Systems Inc (notified Sept. 22/deadline Oct. 27/simplified)

OCT 28

-- Grosvenor Group and Canada's Public Sector Pension Investment Board to jointly acquire a real estate property in Milan, Italy (notified Sept. 23/deadline Oct. 28/simplified)

OCT 29

-- U.S. data center operator Equinix (NasdaqGS: EQIX - news) to acquire British peer Telecity Group (LSE: TCY.L - news) (notified Sept. 24/deadline Oct. 29)

OCT 30

-- Private equity firm Triton to acquire Dutch engineering services company Imtech's Nordic businesses (notified Sept. 25/deadline Oct. 30)

-- German home improvement store OBI (Taiwan OTC: 4174.TWO - news) to acquire Austrian retailer BauMax (notified Sept. 25/deadline Oct. 30/simplified)

DEC 9

-- U.S. drinks can maker Ball Corp (NYSE: BLL - news) to acquire British rival Rexam Plc (LSE: REX.L - news) (notified June 15/deadline extended to Dec. 9 from Nov. 25)

JAN 13

-- U.S. packages delivery company FedEx (Swiss: FDX.SW - news) to acquire Dutch peer TNT (notified July /deadline extended to Jan. 13 from Dec. 8 after the companies asked for more time)

JAN 18

-- South African paper maker Mondi (LSE: MNDI.L - news) to acquire some assets from portfolio company Walki (notified July 29/deadline extended to Jan. 18 from Sept. 2 after the European Commission opened an in-depth investigation)

FEB 10

-- U.S. office supplier Staples (NasdaqGS: SPLS - news) to acquire U.S. rival Office Depot (NasdaqGS: ODP - news) (notified Aug. 21/deadline extended to Feb. 10 from Sept. 25 after the European Commission opened an in-depth investigation)

SUSPENDED

-- Oilfield services provider Halliburton (Hanover: HAL.HA - news) to buy rival Baker Hughes in a stock and cash transaction (notified July 23/deadline suspended after the companies provided insufficient information)

-- SOCAR, Azerbaijan's state energy company, to buy stakes in Greek natural gas grid operator DESFA from Greek natural gas utility DEPA (notified Oct. 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 Foo Yun Chee)