BRUSSELS, May 12 (Reuters) - The following are mergers underreview by the European Commission and a brief guide to the EUmerger process:
APPROVALS AND WITHDRAWALS
-- Switzerland-based INEOS and Belgian chemicals companySolvay to form a joint venture (approved May 8)
-- French water and waste group Veolia Environnement to acquire control of energy services company DalkiaInternational which is now jointly controlled by Veolia andFrench utility group EDF (approved May 7)
NEW LISTINGS
-- Kuwaiti state oil group Kuwait Petroleum Corp to acquireItalian petroleum product companies Shell Italia SpA and ShellItalia Aviazione Srl from energy company Royal Dutch Shell (notified May 6/deadline June 16)
-- British utility Centrica, iCON InfrastructurePartners and Brookfield Renewable Energy Partners to buy theretail arm and other assets of Irish state-owned power providerBord Gais Energy (notified May 5/deadline June 13)
-- Japanese metals maker Hitachi Metals Ltd toacquire a 51 percent stake in MMC Superalloy Corp which is nowsolely controlled by Mitsubishi Materials Corp (notified May 6/deadline June 16/simplified)
EXTENSIONS AND OTHER CHANGES
-- Spanish telecoms provider Telefonica to buyDutch peer KPN's German unit (notified Oct. 31/deadlineextended for the third time to June 26 from June 23)
-- U.S. cable company Liberty Global to acquireDutch peer Ziggo (notified March 14/deadline extendedfor the third time to Sept. 19 from May 8 from April 23 afterthe European Commission opened an in-depth probe)
FIRST-STAGE REVIEWS BY DEADLINE
MAY 15
-- Swedish farmers group Lantmannen and Finnish timber andbioenergy company Vapo to combine their Swedish and Latvian woodpellets businesses (notified April 3/deadline May 15)
MAY 16
-- U.S. auto parts maker Visteon Corp to acquire U.S.car parts maker Johnson Controls' car electronicsbusiness (notified April 4/deadline May 16)
MAY 23
-- Swiss agricultural trader Ecom Agroindustrial to acquireArmajaro Holdings' commodity trading arm (notified April11/deadline May 23)
MAY 27
-- Affiliates of private equity firms KKR and H.I.G. Capitalto acquire Estro Groep B.V., a Dutch provider of child day careservices (notified April 15/deadline May 27/simplified)
MAY 28
-- Canadian private equity investment firm Onex Corp to sell The Warranty Group, a provider of extendedwarranty contracts, to an affiliate of TPG Capital Management LP for an enterprise value of about $1.5 billion (notifiedApril 16/deadline May 28/simplified)
-- British-based equity capital group Charterhouse CapitalLimited Group to buy a majority stake in Italian cheese firmNuova Castelli S.p.A. (notified April 16/deadline May 28)
-- U.S. firm Federal-Mogul Corp to buy part of thefriction materials business, including the European frictionmaterials business, of Honeywell International Inc (notified April 16/deadline May 28)
JUNE 3
-- Private French agro-industrial group Soufflet to takesole control of French bakery group Neuhauser (notified April23/deadline June 3/simplified)
JUNE 10
-- Italian insurer Unipol to sell assets to Germanpeer Allianz (notified April 29/deadline June 10)
JUNE 11
-- Danish cooperative food company Danish Crown to acquireremaining 50 percent of Saturn Nordic Holding AB, which owns pork and beef processing firm Sokolow, from Finnish food companyHKScan OYJ (notified April 30/deadline June 11/simplified)
JUNE 12
-- Heidelberger Leben Holding AG, which is owned by privateequity firm Cinven Capital Management, to acquire insurerSkandia's units in Germany and Austria (notified May 2/deadlineJune 12/simplified)
-- U.S. chemical manufacturer Ashland Inc to sellits water technologies unit to private equity firm Clayton,Dubilier & Rice (notified May 2/deadline June 12)
JULY 8
-- Swiss cement maker Holcim to buy some ofMexican peer Cemex's assets in Europe . (notified Sept. 3/deadline extended for the third time to July 8from May 2)
SEPT 5
-- Mexican cement producer Cemex to acquireSwiss peer Holcim's Spanish cement business (notifiedFeb. 28/deadline extended to April 23 from April 4 after Cemexsubmitted concessions/in-depth investigation announced April23/new deadline Sept. 5)
SEPT 18
-- U.S. chemical maker Huntsman Corp to acquire U.S.peer Rockwood Holdings's titanium dioxide pigmentsbusiness (notified Jan. 29/deadline extended to Sept. 18 fromAug. 20/commitments submitted on March 28)
SUSPENSION OF DEADLINE
-- Hutchison 3G UK to acquire Telefonica Ireland,a unit of Spanish telecoms provider Telefonica (notified Oct. 1/deadline suspended while the Commission waitsfor details of Hutchison's revised concessions)
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 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 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 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. (Editing by Foo Yun Chee)
