EU mergers and takeovers (June 17)
BRUSSELS, June 17 (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:
-- Kazakh oil company Cooperatieve KazMunaiGaz PKI U.A., controlled by Kazakh national oil and gas company JSC National Company KazMunaiGaz RDGZ.KZ; and Austria's Euraisian Energy Holdings GmbH, controlled by China's largest oil and gas producer, China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) [CNPET.UL], to take joint control of Kazakh oil and gas company JSC Mangistaumunaigaz (notified June 12/deadline July 17/simplified)
-- Luxembourg-based steelmaker ArcelorMittal (ISPA.AS) to acquire sole control of Noble European Holdings BV, a Dutch subsidiary of U.S. tailor-welded blanks maker Noble International Ltd NOBLQ.PK (notified June 2/deadline July 7)
-- Dutch electronics manufacturer Philips (PHG.AS) to acquire sole control of Italian espresso machine maker Saeco International Group S.p.A (notified June 12/deadline July 17/simplified)
EXTENSIONS AND OTHER CHANGES: None
FIRST-STAGE REVIEWS BY DEADLINE:
JUNE 17
-- Bahamas-based investment company Renova Industries, belonging to the Russian Renova Group, to acquire Swiss engineering company Sulzer AG (SUN.S) (notified May 8/deadline June 17)
JUNE 18
-- German metal treatment and lighting reflector company Almeco GmbH and German roof accessories company Mage Industrie Holding AG acquire joint control of Tinox, a German maker of absorber surfaces (notified May 11/deadline June 18/simplified)
JUNE 22
-- Luxembourg private equity company CVC to acquire Belgian universal postal services operator De Post NV/La Poste SA (notified May 13/deadline June 22/simplified)
-- Swedish state-owned electricity and gas company Vattenfall AB [VATN.UL] to acquire N.V. Nuon Energy, a Dutch regional authority-owned energy firm (notified April 28/deadline June 8/extended on June 2/new deadline June 22)
JUNE 23
-- German utility company RWE (RWEG.DE) to acquire Dutch counterpart Essent (notified April 29/deadline June 9/extended on June 4/new deadline June 23)
JUNE 26
-- U.S. industrial conglomerate General Electric (GE.N); media group News Corp (NWSA.O) and entertainment giant The Walt Disney Co (DIS.N) take joint control of U.S.-based video website Hulu LLC, currently controlled jointly by GE and News Corp (notified May 19/deadline June 26/simplified)
-- Japanese trading company Itochu Corp (8001.T), Japanese machinery conglomerate Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd (7011.T) and Greek renewable energy company Enolia Energy SA acquire joint control of Greek photovoltaic systems supplier Enolia Solar Systems SA (notified May 19/deadline June 26/simplified)
JUNE 29
-- UK mobile supplier Carphone Warehouse (CPW.L), via its wholly owned UK subsidiary TalkTalk Group, acquires British Internet access provider Tiscali UK, a subsidiary of Tiscali SpA (TIS.MI) (notified May 20/deadline June 29)
-- French banking and insurance services provider Credit Agricole (CAGR.PA) to acquire control over part of French fund custody and fund administration company CACEIS (notified May 20/deadline June 29/simplified)
-- Luxembourg investment companies BlueBay HYI and BlueBay MSI, and industrial holding company RHJ International (RHJI.BR) to acquire control of German metal components company Honsel (notified May 20/deadline June 29/simplified)
-- Dutch private equity companies NPM Capital and Fortis Private Equity Holding Nederland BV to acquire Dutch plastic and rubber components company Helvoet Holding BV (notified May 20/deadline June 29/simplified)
-- Russian petrochemicals firm Sibur to acquire Austrian Citco Waren-Handelsgesellschaft mbH, Cypriot Citco Holdings Ltd and Panama's Westin Trading SA, which together form petrochemicals distributor Citco (notified May 20/deadline June 29/simplified)
JUNE 30
-- Italian motorway management company Sias (SIS.MI), Italian motorways company Atlantia (ATL.MI) and Spanish concession services company Acciona (ANA.MC) acquire joint control of five Chilean toll motorways, Operacion y Logistica de Infraestructuras, Litoral Central, Vespucio Sur, Gestion Vial and Autopista Nororiente ("Itinere Chilean assets") (notified May 25/deadline June 30/simplified)
JULY 1
-- German carrier Deutsche Lufthansa AG (LHAG.DE) to acquire counterpart Austrian Airlines (AUAV.VI) (notified May 8/ deadline June 17/extended on June 11/new deadline July 1)
-- U.S. firm Safran USA, controlled by French aerospace company Safran SA (SAF.PA), to acquire joint control of U.S. detection products company General Electric Homeland Protection, currently controlled by U.S. company General Electric (GE.N) (notified May 26/deadline July 1/simplified)
JULY 6
-- U.S. biomedical and pharmaceutical company Pfizer (PFE.N) to acquire U.S. pharmaceutical and healthcare company Wyeth WYE.N (notified May 29/deadline July 6)
JULY 7
-- Brazilian food products firm Perdigao PRGA3.SA enters into a full merger with Brazilian peer Sadia SDIA4.SA (notified June 2/deadline July 7/simplified)
JULY 8
-- UK oil and gas company BP (BP.L) and U.S. chemical products company Dupont (DD.N) to acquire joint control of U.S. company Biobutanol LLC, which develops and licenses technology related to the commercial production of biobutanol (notified June 3/deadline July 8)
-- German healthcare and pharmaceutical group Celesio AG (CLSGn.DE), controlled by Franz Haniel & Cie GmbH, to take sole control of Pharmexx GmbH, which provides temporary employment services to pharmaceutical companies (notified June 3/deadline July 8/simplified)
JULY 9
-- British leisure travel company TUI Travel Holdings (TT.L) and Cypriot diversified asset holding company Oscrivia Ltd acquire joint control of leisure travel firms Voyage Kiev of Ukraine and VKO Moscow of Russia (notified June 4/deadline July 9/simplified)
-- Britain's Barclays Bank Plc (BARC.L) and Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc (RBS.L) acquire joint control of Hillary S.a.r.l, a Luxembourg provider of medical assistance services that indirectly controls Spain's USP Hospitales S.L.U, a provider of similar services (notified June 4/deadline July 9/simplified)
JULY 13
-- French asset management company BNP Paribas Investment Partners SA, belonging to BNP Paribas (BNPP.PA), and peer Credit Agricole Asset Management Luxembourg SA (CAAM), belonging to Credit Agricole (CAGR.PA), acquire joint control of Luxembourg's Fund Channel, a logistic platform for distribution of UCITS products that was previously owned exclusively by CAAM (notified June 8/deadline July 13/simplified)
JULY 15
-- German energy supplier Energie Baden-Wuerttemberg AG (EnBW) (EBKG.DE) and Turkish conglomerate Borusan Holding take joint control of electricity producer Borusan Enerji, currently controlled solely by Borusan Holding (notified June 10/deadline July 15/simplified)
JULY 17
-- German Bosch Thermotechnik GmbH, controlled by industrial conglomerate Robert Bosch GmbH [ROBG.UL], acquires Loos Deutschland GmbH, a family-owned supplier of commercial and industrial boiler systems (notified June 12/deadline July 17)
SECOND-STAGE REVIEWS BY DEADLINE:
JULY 1
-- German airline Lufthansa AG (LHAG.DE) to acquire Belgian air transport company SN Airholding SA/NV, which controls Brussels Airlines (notified Nov. 26/deadline Jan. 12/extended on Jan. 6/new deadline Jan. 26/in-depth probe opened Jan. 27/deadline June 10/15 working days extension/new deadline July 1)
-- Danish shipping company Vesterhavet A/S and Danish freight forwarder DSV A/S (DSV.CO) to acquire joint control of Danish sea shipping company DFDS A/S (DFDS.CO) (notified Jan. 30/deadline March 6/declared incomplete Feb 20/new deadline May 28/extended on May 26/new deadline June 12/in-depth probe opened on June 12/deadline Oct. 19)
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 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.










