EU mergers and takeovers (Jan 28)

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

-- Investment fund Apollo Group and Spanish financial services fund Fondo de Garantia de Depositos de Entidades de Credito to acquire joint control of air parts maker Synergy (notified Jan. 24/deadline Feb. 28/simplified)

-- U.S. food packager Crown Holdings to buy Spanish food-can maker Mivisa Envases from investment funds the Blackstone Group, N+1 Mercapital and management (notified Jan. 24/deadline Feb. 28)

-- Canadian investment fund Canada Pension Plan Investment Board to acquire joint control of Luxembourg-based property developer Parque Principado from real estate developer Intu Holding S.a.r.l (notified Jan. 24/deadline Feb. 28/simplified)

EXTENSIONS AND OTHER CHANGES

None

FIRST-STAGE REVIEWS BY DEADLINE

JAN 29

-- Spanish bank Santander to acquire a 50 percent stake in Spanish consumer finance company El Corte Ingles E.F.C. from Spanish retailer El Corte Ingles (notified Dec. 13/deadline Jan. 29)


JAN 30

-- Private equity firm Lloyds Development Capital, which is owned by British bank Lloyds, and Dutch mail group ptnlPostNL to acquire joint control of holding company TNT NN1 Ltd which is now solely controlled by PostNL (notified Dec. 16/deadline Jan. 30)

-- Mexican frozen food producer Sigma Alimentos to acquire Spanish meat processor Campofrio (notified Dec. 16/deadline Jan. 30/simplified)

FEB 4

-- German vehicle importer Frey Automobil Holding Deutschland GmbH and Mitsubishi Motors Europe B.V. to acquire joint control of Mitsubishi Motors Deutschland GmbH, currently 100 percent owned by Mitsubishi Motors Europe (notified Dec. 19/deadline Feb. 4/simplified)

FEB 5

-- Dutch mining holding company Metinvest to indirectly acquire joint control of Ukrainian iron ore company Southern GOK by replacing one of Southern GOK's existing shareholders. It will jointly control the firm with Cypriot holding firm Lanebrook Ltd, parent of Evraz plc (notified Dec. 20/deadline Feb. 5)

FEB 6

-- Japanese trading house Mitsui & Co Ltd and ArcelorMittal Gonvarri Brasil Produtos Siderurgicos S.A., a joint venture between Gonvarri and ArcelorMittal, to acquire joint control of M Steel Industria e Comercio de Produtos Siderurgicos Ltda, which will operate a steel service centre in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (notified Dec. 23/deadline Feb. 6/simplified)


-- Pension funds USS Nero Limited of Britain, OPSEU Pension Plan Trust Fund of Canada and PGGM N.V. of the Netherlands, together with Spain's Global Vía Infraestructuras, to acquire joint control of Globalvía Inversiones, S.A., which is currently jointly controlled by OPTrust, PGGM and Global Vía Infraestructuras (notified Dec. 23/deadline Feb. 6/simplified)

-- Germany's Sales & Solutions GmbH, a unit of EnBW Energie Baden-Wuerttemberg AG, and Austria's Verbund AG to acquire joint control of a new joint venture to sell electricity from renewable energy sources to resellers and large customers in Germany (notified Dec. 23/deadline Feb. 6/simplified)


FEB 7

-- Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Danish wind turbine manufacturer Vestas Wind Systems A/S to set up a joint venture to carry out global sales, manufacturing, installation, research and development and maintenance of offshore wind turbine generators (notified Jan. 3/deadline Feb. 7/simplified)

-- Singapore's sovereign wealth fund GIC to become British Land's new partner in London's Broadgate office and retail complex, buying out U.S. private equity group Blackstone for around 1.7 billion pounds ($2.8 billion) (notified Jan. 3/deadline Feb.7/simplified)

-- U.S. private equity fund Advent International to take Dutch business software firm UNIT4 private (notified Jan. 3/deadline Feb. 7/simplified)

-- State-controlled Finnish utility Fortum to sell its local power distribution grid to a group of institutional investors led by First State Investments and Borealis Infrastructure for 2.55 billion euros ($3.5 billion) (notified Jan. 3/deadline Feb. 7/simplified)

FEB 12

-- Swiss energy group Axpo to buy a 49 percent stake in a group of French wind farms from EDP Renewables France , a unit of Portuguese group Energias de Portugal (notified Jan. 8/deadline Feb. 12/simplified).


-- Japan's Mitsubishi Corp and Mitsubishi Electric Corp to acquire joint control of International Elevator& Equipment Inc., a Philippines-registered elevator company (notified Jan. 8/deadline Feb. 12/simplified).

-- Japan's Mitsubishi Corp and Mitsubishi Electric Corp to acquire joint control of Mitsubishi Elevator (Thailand) Co. Ltd, a Thailand-registered elevator company (notified Jan. 8/deadline Feb. 12/simplified).


-- Finnish steelmaker Outokumpu to sell Acciai Speciali Terni, a large Italian stainless steel mill, and specialty high-performance alloy unit VDM to ThyssenKrupp , their previous owner (notified Jan. 8/deadline Feb. 12)

-- Japanese trading company Marubeni and private equity firm INCJ to acquire joint control of AGS, a Portuguese water company (notified Jan. 8/deadline Feb. 12/simplified)

-- U.S. private equity firm JLL Partners and Dutch chemicals company DSM to set up a joint venture (notified Jan. 8/deadline Feb. 12/simplified)

-- Chesapeake Services Limited and Multi Packaging Solutions, Inc., portfolio companies of the Carlyle Group and Madison Dearborn partners respectively, to merge, creating a large print-based specialty packaging firm (notified Jan. 8/deadline Feb. 12/simplified)

FEB 18

-- Cintra Infraestructuras, Abertis Autopistas Espana and Itinere Infraestructuras to set up joint venture to market and distribute electronic equipment to pay on Spanish toll motorways (notified Jan. 14/deadline Feb. 18)

-- U.S. grain trader Archer Daniels Midland <ADM.N and ATR Landhandel to acquire joint control of newly founded RGL. ADM Hamburg is contributing its silo facility in the deep-sea port of Rostock to the joint venture (notified Jan. 14/deadline Feb. 18/simplified)

FEB 20

-- Irish building materials producer CRH Group and Luja Group to combine their concrete business in Russia (notified Jan. 16/deadline Feb. 20/simplified)


FEB 24

-- Qatar Petroleum International, Greek construction company GEK Terna and French gas and power utility GDF Suez to acquire joint control of Greek power plant operator Heron II which is now jointly controlled by GEK Terna and GDF Suez (notified Jan. 20/deadline Feb. 24/simplified)

FEB 26

-- French bank BPCE and Belgian private equity company GIMV to acquire joint control of Veolia Transport Belgium (notified Jan. 22/deadline Feb. 26/simplified)

MARCH 21

-- Switzerland-based INEOS and Belgian chemicals company Solvay to form a joint venture (notified Sept. 16/deadline extended for the second time to March 21 from Nov. 5 after the European Commission opened an in-depth investigation)

MARCH 31

-- Swiss cement maker Holcim to buy some of Mexican peer Cemex's assets in Europe . (notified Sept. 3/deadline extended for the second time to May 2 from March 31)

APRIL 24

-- Hutchison 3G UK to acquire Telefonica Ireland, a unit of Spanish telecoms provider Telefonica (notified Oct. 1/deadline extended to April 24 from March 24)


MAY 14

-- Spanish telecoms provider Telefonica to buy Dutch peer KPN's German unit (notified Oct. 31/Commission opened in-depth probe on Dec. 20, new deadline May 14)

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.

Source Reuters