EU mergers and takeovers (Oct 5)

BRUSSELS, Oct (HKSE: 3366-OL.HK - news) 5 (Reuters) - The following are mergers under review by the European Commission and a brief guide to the EU merger process:

APPROVALS AND WITHDRAWALS

-- 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 (approved Oct. 2)

NEW LISTINGS

-- 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)

EXTENSIONS AND OTHER CHANGES

-- 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 for the third time to Feb. 18 from Oct. 5 after the European Commission opened an in-depth investigation)

-- 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)

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

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)

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 (Shanghai: 600875.SS - news) 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)