BRUSSELS, Oct 10 (Reuters) - The following are mergers underreview by the European Commission and a brief guide to the EUmerger process:
APPROVALS AND WITHDRAWALS
-- Swedish telecoms operator Tele2 to acquire Danish peerTDC's Swedish subsidiary TDC Sverige AB (approved Oct.7)
-- Meat processing company ABP Food Group to acquire a 50percent stake in Irish beef producer Slaney Food (approved Oct.7)
-- Australian logistics company Brambles and FirstReserve Management L.P. to set up a joint venture (approved Oct.7)
-- U.S. electric component distributor Avnet toacquire British Raspberry Pi mini-computer maker Premier Farnell (approved Oct. 6)
NEW LISTINGS
None
EXTENSIONS AND OTHER CHANGES
-- German cement producers Heidelbergcement andSchwenk to jointly acquire Mexican peer Cemex's Croatian unit (notified Sept. 5/deadline extended to Feb. 23from Oct. 10 after the European Commission opened an in-depthinvestigation)
FIRST-STAGE REVIEWS BY DEADLINE
OCT 14
-- Chinese household appliances company Midea Group to acquire German industrial robot maker Kuka (notified Sept. 9/deadline Oct. 14/simplified)
-- French minerals company Imerys to acquirealumina producer Alteo ARC and Alufin GmbH Tabularoxid fromAlteo Holding SAS(notified Sept. 9/deadline Oct. 14)
OCT 18
-- Beijing Jianguang Asset Management Co Ltd to acquirechipmaker NXP Semiconductors' standard productsbusiness unit Nexperia (notified Sept. 13/deadline Oct.18/simplified)
OCT 20
-- U.S. pulp and paper company International Paper Co to acquire Weyerhaeuser's pulp business (notified Sept.15/deadline Oct. 20)
-- Private equity firms Blackstone and New MountainCapital to jointly acquire software provider Ida Software(notified Sept. 15/deadline Oct. 20/simplified)
-- Private equity firms Advent International and Thomas H.Lee Partners to jointly acquire pharmaceutical services providerInVentiv (notified Sept. 15/deadline Oct. 20/simplified)
OCT 21
-- Aeroporti di Roma subsidiary Atlantia and French energycompany EDF to jointly acquire airport operator SocieteAeroports de la Cote d'Azur (ACA) (notified Sept. 16/deadlineOct. 21/simplified)
-- Private equity firm Cinven to acquire Italianinsurer Old Mutual Wealth Italy (notified Sept. 16/deadline Oct.21/simplified)
-- German tourism company TUI AG to acquire Frenchpeer Transat France's French and Greek tour operatingunits (notified Sept. 16/deadline Oct. 21)
OCT 24
-- German drugmaker Boehringer Ingelheim to acquire Frenchpeer Sanofi's animal health business (notified Sept.19/deadline Oct. 24)
OCT 26
-- U.S. laser tools and systems maker Coherent toacquire laser developer and manufacturer Rofin-SinarTechnologies (notified Sept. 7/deadline extended toOct. 26 from Oct. 12 after the companies offered concessions)
-- Dutch staffing company Randstad to acquire U.S.peer Monster Worldwide (notified Sept. 21/deadline Oct.26)
-- Japanese company Marubeni Corp, Japanese gascompany Toho Gas and Portuguese energy company GalpEnergia to jointly acquire gas distributor GGND whichis now solely owned by Galp Energia (notified Sept. 21/deadlineOct. 26/simplified)
-- German insurer Talanx and UK investment groupAberdeen Asset Management to jointly acquire Portuguesedeveloper Escala Vila Franca and Portuguese parking operator PNHParque (notified Sept. 21/deadline Oct. 26/simplified)
OCT 27
-- Iberian companies Maritima del Mediterraneo (MARMEDSA)and United European Car Carriers Unipessoal (UECC) to jointlyacquire Spanish terminal operator United European Car CarriersIbérica (notified Sept. 22/deadline Oct. 27/simplified)
-- MarÃtima del Mediterráneo S.A.U (Marmedsa), which isowned by investment fund IIF International Holding, and vehicletransport company United European Car Carriers Unipessoal (UECC)to jointly acquire United European Car Carriers Iberica(notified Sept. 22/deadline Oct. 27/simplified)
OCT 28
-- French drugmaker Sanofi unit Sanofi Pasteur SAto acquire sole control of some human vaccines andimmunoglobulins which it now jointly owns with U.S. drugmakerMerck & Co (notified Sept. 23/deadline Oct.28/simplified)
-- Chinese state-owned company China National Chemical Corp(ChemChina) to acquire Swiss pesticides and seedsgroup Syngenta (notified Sept. 23/deadline Oct. 28)
OCT 31
-- Dutch paint and coatings maker Akzo Nobel toacquire Germany chemical company BASF's industrialcoasting business (notified Sept. 26/deadline Oct. 31)
NOV 3
-- Private equity firm CVC and the Canada PensionPlan Investment Board to jointly acquire U.S. specialty petretailer Petco Holdings (notified Sept. 27/deadlineNov. 3/simplified)
-- Alliance Automotive Group to acquire auto distributor FPSDistributor (notified Sept. 27/deadline Nov. 3)
-- German furniture and household goods retailer SteinhoffInternational and its peer Grupo Pikolin to jointlyacquire Belgian furniture wholesaler Cofel (notified Sept.27/deadline Nov. 3/simplified)
NOV 4
-- French chemicals company Arkema to acquiresealants and adhesives maker Den Braven (notified Sept.28/deadline Nov. 4)
NOV 7
-- Private equity firm Apollo Global Management toacquire U.S. cloud services provider Rackspace Hosting (notified Sept. 29/Nov. 7/simplified)
-- Private equity firm Axcel IV, Danish pension fund PFAPension and three other pension funds PKA to jointly acquireDanish ship financing company DSF (notified Sept. 29/deadlineNov. 7/simplified)
-- Air transport services provider HNA Aviation to acquireGerman aircraft maintenance services provider SR Technics(notified Sept. 29/deadline NOv. 7/simplified)
-- German carmaker Daimler to acquire Dutchcompany Athlon Car Lease International (notifiedSept. 29/deadline Nov. 7/simplified)
NOV 9
-- German shipping company Hapag-Lloyd to mergewith Kuwait-based United Arab Shipping Co (notified Oct.3/deadline Nov. 9)
-- U.S. medical devices maker Abbott Laboratories toacquire U.S. peer St Jude (notified Oct. 3/deadline Nov.9)
FEB 6
-- U.S. chemicals company Dow Chemical to merge withDuPont (notified June 22/deadline Feb. 6)
FEB 13
-- Deutsche Boerse and the London Stock Exchange plan to merge (notified Aug. 24/deadline extended toFeb. 13 from Sept. 28 after the European Commission opened anin-depth investigation)
SUSPENDED
-- SOCAR, Azerbaijan's state energy company, to buy stakesin Greek natural gas grid operator DESFA from Greek natural gasutility 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 isfiled for a first-stage review. It may extend that by 10 workingdays to 35 working days, to consider either a company's proposedremedies or an EU member state's request to handle the case.
Most mergers win approval but occasionally the Commissionopens a detailed second-stage investigation for up to 90additional working days, which it may extend to 105 workingdays.
SIMPLIFIED:
Under the simplified procedure, the Commission announces theclearance of uncontroversial first-stage mergers without givingany reason for its decision. Cases may be reclassified asnon-simplified - that is, ordinary first-stage reviews - untilthey are approved. (Compiled by Foo Yun Chee)
