BRUSSELS, June 21 (Reuters) - The following are mergersunder review by the European Commission and a brief guide to theEU merger process:
APPROVALS AND WITHDRAWALS
-- Private equity firms the Carlyle Group andCrestview Advisors to jointly acquire U.S. sports andentertainment event production company NEP Group (approved June 20)
-- Buyout firms Bain Capital and Vista Equity Partners tojointly acquire U.S. insurance software supplier Vertafore (approved June 20)
-- Hon Hai Precision, also known as Foxconn,intends to buy a majority of Japanese electronics company Sharp (approved June 20)
-- Dublin-based support services group DCC Holding to acquire retail fuel and aviation fuel provider Dansk Fuels(approved June 20)
-- European packaging maker Ardagh to acquiresome facilities from beverage can makers Ball and Rexam (approved June 17)
-- Dutch dredging company Boskalis to acquirecontrol of maritime services company VolkerWesselsOffshore fromReggeborgh (approved June 16)
-- Innovation Network Corp Japan, Japan's Sumitomo ChemicalCo and Sekisui Chemical Co to set up a jointventure (approved June 16)
-- Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp to acquireDell's IT services unit (approved June 14)
NEW LISTINGS
-- Finnish crane maker Konecranes to acquire U.S.crane maker Terex's cranes business for ports andfactories (MHPS) (deadline June 17/deadline July 25)
-- U.S. private equity firm Warburg Pincus andFrench investment firm Wendel to set up a jointventure (notified June 17/deadline July 25/simplified)
-- Spanish online bank Bancopopular-e, which is 49-percentowned by Banco Popular Espanol, to acquire Portugueselender Banco Popular Portugal's payment cards' buisness(notified June 16/deadline July 22/simplified)
-- Private investment company Maxburg Investments II GmbH &Co and VR Equity Partner to jointly acquire German fabricproducer Norafin Verwaltungs GmbH (notified June 16/deadlineJuly 22/simplified)
-- Investment bank Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank to jointly acquire some assets from National Bank ofGreece (notified June 16/deadline July 22/simplified)
-- U.S. private equity firm AEA to acquire Danish freightforwarder Scan Global Logistics (notified June 15/deadline July20/simplified)
-- Private investor firms Partners Group and InfraredCapital Partners to jointly acquire Merkur Offshore (notifiedJune 15/deadline July 20/simplified)
-- French drugmaker Sanofi to acquire Germanycompany Boehringer Ingelheim's consumer healthcare business(notified June 15/deadline July 20)
-- British mobile telephony operator Vodafone andU.S. cable company Liberty Global to merge their Dutchoperations (notified June 14/deadline July 19)
EXTENSIONS AND OTHER CHANGES
-- French company Plastic Omnium to acquire Frenchcar parts maker Faurecia's auto exteriors business(notified May 23/deadline extended to July 11 from June 27 afterOmnium offered concessions)
-- U.S. rail equipment maker Wabtec Corp to acquireFrench peer Faiveley Transport SA (notified April4/deadline extended for the second time to Oct 18 from Sept. 20)
FIRST-STAGE REVIEWS BY DEADLINE
JUNE 27
-- Hotel chain Marriott International to acquireStarwood Hotels & Resorts (notified May 23/deadline June27)
JUNE 28
-- World Fuel Services Corp to acquire ExxonMobil's fueling business at 83 airports (notified May24/deadline June 28)
JUNE 29
-- Private equity firm Advent International to acquire NewZealand resins and coating company Nuplex Industries (notified May 25/deadline June 29)
JULY 1
-- M&G Alternatives Investment Management, a unit of UKinsurer Prudential plc, and U.S. private equity firmAnchorage Capital Group to jointly acquire UK services providerPHS Group Investments (notified May 27/deadline July1/simplified)
-- Private equity firm Cinven Capital Management and theCanada Pension Plan Investment Board to jointly acquireaccomodation and travel services company Hotelbeds Group fromGerman travel group TUI AG (notified May 27/deadlineJuly 1/simplified)
JULY 4
-- Private equity firms TPG Capital and Partners Group tojointly acquire shopping centers and retail parks in Italy andSpain from TH Real Estate (notified May 30/deadline July4/simplified)
-- German industrial company Freudenberg to acquire solecontrol of German maker of car vibration control technologyVibracoustic, which it now jointly controls with Swedishindustrial rubber company Trelleborg (notified May30/deadline July 4/simplified)
JULY 6
-- U.S. generic drugmaker Mylan to acquire Swedishpeer Meda (notified June 1/deadline July 6)
-- Private equity firm Silver Lake Group to acquire solecontrol of French IT services provider Cegid (notifiedJune 1/deadline July 6/simplified)
JULY 7
-- German agricultural commodities cooperative Agravis toacquire a minority stake in German palm products and animal feedtrading house H. Boegel from Singapore-listed commodities groupWilmar International (notified June 2/deadline July 7)
-- Spanish bank Banco Santander to acquire some ofPortuguese lende Banif's assets (notified June 2/deadline July7)
JULY 11
-- British insurer Aviva Group and Credit MutuelInsurance Group to acquire joint control of an office buildingin Paris, France (notified June 6/deadline July 11/simplified)
JULY 13
-- French conglomerate Bouygues, French airportdeveloper Aeroports de Paris and infrastructure project investorMeridiam to acquire joint control of Ravinala Airports whichwill develop and maintain airports in Madagascar (notified June8/deadline July 13/simplified)
-- German company Boehringer Ingelheim to acquire Frenchpharmaceutical company Sanofi's animal health buisness(notified June 8/deadline July 13)
JULY 14
-- UK packaging maker RPC Group to acquire BritishPolythene Industries (notified June 9/deadline July14/simplified)
-- Spanish online bank Bancopopular-e, which is 49 percentowned by Banco Popular Espanol, to acquire UK lenderBarclays' consumer payments business in Portugal andSpain (notified June 9/deadline July 14/simplified)
JULY 15
-- U.S. company Verizon Communications and U.S.publisher Hearst Corp to jointly acquire U.s. digital mediacompany Complex (notified June 10/deadline July 15/simplified)
-- Private equity firm PIA Partners-owned R&R Ice Cream andNestle to set up a joint venture to sell ice cream andfrozen food (notified June 10/deadline July 15)
-- Polish investment company Kulczyk Holding S.A. andconstruction company Strabag Sp. z.o.o., which is a unit ofAustrian construction group Strabag SE, to set up ajoint venture (notified June 10/deadline July 15/simplified)
JULY 19
-- Dutch investment company NPM Capital and Thijs HendrixBeheer B.V. to jointly acquire animal and fish breeder HendrixGenetics, which is now controlled by Thijs Hendrix Beheer(notified June 14/deadline July 19/simplified)
AUG 10
-- Airbus Safran Launchers, a 50/50 joint venture betweenAirbus and Safran, to acquire sole control ofsatellite group Arianespace (notified on Jan. 8/deadlineextended to Aug. 10 from July 27/concessions offered May 4)
SEPT 8
-- CK Hutchison Holdings Ltd and Vimpelcom to merge their Italian mobile operations (notified Feb.5/deadline extended to Sept. 8 from Aug 18)
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 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 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)
