EU mergers and takeovers (Oct 22)

BRUSSELS, Oct (HKSE: 3366-OL.HK - news) 22 (Reuters) - The following are mergers under review by the European Commission and a brief guide to the EU merger process:

APPROVALS AND WITHDRAWALS

-- Also Holding AG, a unit of Germany's Droege International Group AG, to acquire Polish IT company PC Factory S (Other OTC: UBGXF - news) .A. (approved Oct. 21)

NEW LISTINGS

None

EXTENSIONS AND OTHER CHANGES

None

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

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

-- Hutchison Whampoa to acquire Telefonica (Amsterdam: TA6.AS - news) 's O2 UK subsidiary (notified Sept. 11/deadline extended to Oct. 30 from Oct 16 after the British competition authority asked to take over the case)

-- 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)

NOV 9

-- Coca-Cola Enterprises, Coca-Cola Iberian Partners (LSE: 0QOQ.L - news) , German bottler Coca-Cola Erfrischungsgetraenke AG and Icelandic bottler Vífilfell hf to merge (notified Oct. 2/deadline Nov. 9)

-- U.S. chipmaker Avago Technologies to acquire U.S. peer Broadcom Corp (NasdaqGS: BRCM - news) (notified Oct. 2/deadline Nov. 9)

NOV 10

-- U.S. private investment fund Sun Capital to acquire Finlays Horticulture (notified Oct. 5/deadline Nov. 10/simplified)

-- French insurer Axa (Paris: FR0000120628 - news) to acquire insurer Genworth Financial Inc's lifestyle protection insurance business (notified Oct. 5/deadline Nov. 10/simplified)

-- BT Pension Scheme and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board to acquire a London property (notified Oct. 5/deadline Nov. 10/simplified)

NOV 12

-- Private equity firm CCMP Capital Advisors and chemicals company Ineos to jointly acquire U.S. sulphuric acid producer Eco Services (notified Oct. 7/deadline Nov. 12/simplified)

NOV 13

-- Japanese steel producer Marubeni-Itochu Steel and Sumitomo Corp to combined their domestic Japanese steel building materials businesses (notified Oct. 8/deadline Nov. 13)

NOV 16

-- BT Pension Scheme and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board to acquire a London property (notified Oct. 9/deadline Nov. 16/simplified)

-- U.S. industrial group Honeywell to acquire the Elster utility consumption metering business of British company Melrose Industries Plc (Other OTC: MLSPF - news) (notified Oct. 9/deadline Nov. 16)

NOV 17

-- Swiss insurer ACE to acquire U.S. peer Chubb notified Oct. 12/deadline Nov. 17/simplified)

NOV 18

-- Insurance broker Willis Group to acquire financial management services provider Towers Watson & Co (NasdaqGS: TW - news) (notified Oct. 13/deadline Nov. 18/simplified)

-- Belgian chemical group Solvay (Brussels: SOLB.BR - news) to acquire U.S. peer Cytec (notified Oct. 13/deadline Nov. 18)

NOV 20

-- China's HNA Group to acquire Swiss air cargo handler Swissport International (notified Oct. 15/deadline Nov. 20)

NOV 23

-- Apollo Capital Management and hotel management company Redefine BDL Hotels UK Ltd to acquire joint control of British hotel operator LRG Finance (notified Oct. 16/deadline Nov. 23/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)

MARCH 3

-- Cable telecoms company Liberty Global (NasdaqGS: LBTYA - news) 's Belgian subsidiary Telenet (Other OTC: TLGHY - news) to buy mobile network operator Base from Dutch group KPN (notified Aug. 17/deadline extended for the fourth time to March 3 from Feb. 18)

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)