BRUSSELS, May 23 (Reuters) - The following are mergers underreview by the European Commission and a brief guide to the EUmerger process:
APPROVALS AND WITHDRAWALS
-- Investment fund Apollo Management to acquire Portugueseinsurer Acoreana Seguros (approved May 20)
NEW LISTINGS
-- Inter Ikea Systems Holding, which is a unit of the IKEAGroup, to acquire companies carrying out IKEAmanufacturing activities from the Ingka Group which owns IKEAfranchisees in 28 countries (notified May 11/deadline June16/simplified)
-- European packaging maker Ardagh to acquiresome assets from beverage can makers Ball and Rexam (notified May 18/deadline June 22/simplified)
-- Property developer Segro and Canada's PublicSector Pension Investment Board to jointly acquire Italianlogistics company Torino DCI (notified May 19/deadline June23/simplified)
-- Innovation Network Corp Japan, Japan's Sumitomo ChemicalCo and Sekisui Chemical Co to set up a jointventure (notified May 19/deadline June 23/simplified)
-- French industrial gas supplier Air Liquide andRussian heavy engineering group OMZ to set up a jointventure (notified May 19/deadline June 23/simplified)
EXTENSIONS AND OTHER CHANGES
None
FIRST-STAGE REVIEWS BY DEADLINE
MAY 24
-- Private equity firm Towerbrook Capital Partners toacquire information provider Infopro Digital (notified April13/deadline May 24)
-- Brewer Anheuser-Busch InBev to acquire rivalSABMiller (notified March 30/deadline extended to May 24from May 4 after AB Inbev offers concessions)
MAY 26
-- U.S. private equity firms Warburg Pincus andGeneral Atlantic, Italian lender Unicredit and Spanishbank Santander to combine the asset management businessof SAM Investment Holdings Limited and Pioneer Global AssetManagement S.p.A.(notified April 15/deadline May 26)
-- HeidelbergCement to acquire Italian peerItalcementi (notified April 1/deadline extended to May26 after HeidelbergCement offered concessions)
MAY 27
-- Finnish retailer Kesko to acquire buildingproducts supplier Onninen (notified April 18/deadline May 27)
MAY 30
-- Private equity firms Bridgepoint and Summit Partners tojointly acquire software provider Calypso Technology Inc.(notified April 19/deadline May 30/simplified)
JUNE 1
-- Air transport services provider Norwegian and shippingcompany Shiphold to jointly acquire air crew management servicescompany OSM Aviation (notified April 21/deadline June 1)
JUNE 2
-- Private equity firm Pillarstone, which is indirectlycontrolled by KKR, to acquire Italian engineeringservices provider Sirtl (notified April 22/deadline June2/simplified)
JUNE 3
-- Investment funds Investindustrial V L.P. and CatelliS.r.l. to jointly acquire baby care products maker Artsana(notified April 25/deadline June 3/simplified)
JUNE 8
-- Irish Life to buy Aviva Health and 50.7 percent of sharesin GloHealth that it does not currently own. Both are providersof health insurance in Ireland. (notified April 28/deadline June6)
JUNE 9
-- Canada's Fairfax Financial Holdings andLuxembourg-based holding company OPG, which is part of theOntario Municipal Employees Retirement System Primary PensionPlan, to acquire joint control of Eurolife ERB Insurance GroupHoldings S.A. (notified April 29/deadline June 9/simplified)
-- Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Arentaria Colombia and RCIBanque to set up a joint venture (notified April 29/deadlineJune 9/simplified)
-- U.S. food service distributor Sysco Corp toacquire peer Brakes Group (notified April 29/deadline June 9)
-- Fairfax Holdings Ltd and OPG Commercial Holdings toacquire joint control of Eurolife ERB Insurance Group Holdings(notified April 29/deadline June 9)
JUNE 13
-- Dutch holding company Hal Investments toacquire 20 percent stake in online retailer Coolblue (notifiedon May 3/deadline June 13/simplified)
-- Auto parts maker Johnson Controls to buyIreland-based Tyco International. (notified on May3/deadline June 13/simplified)
JUNE 14
-- Private equity firms 3i Group and Wood Creek CapitalManagement LLC to jointly acquire Wireless Infrastructure Group(notified May 4/deadline June 14/simplified)
-- Hearst Communications Inc and Advance Publications to setup a joint venture (notified May 4/deadline June 14/simplified)
-- France's Credit Mutuel to acquire GE Capital's factoringand equipment financing businesses in France and Germany(notified on May 4/deadline June 14)
JUNE 15
-- Private equity firms Apax Partners and managementservices provider Accenture to acquire joint control ofU.S. insurance software developer Duck Creek Technologies(notified May 10/deadline June 15/simplified)
-- Malaysian state-owned investment fund Khazanah NasionalBhd and Japan's Mitsui & Co to set up a joint venture(notified May 10/deadline June 15/simplified)
-- Private equity firm KKR to acquire indirectcontrol of Airbus' defence electronics unit (notifiedMay 10/deadline June 15/simplified)
-- French biochemicals company Avril and French investmentfund Societes de Projets Industriels to acquire joint control ofbiochemicals producer Evertree (notified April 28/deadline June8/simplified)
-- U.S. industrial products maker ITW to acquireGerman car parts maker ZF TRW Automotives Corp's fasteners and car components business EF&C(notified May 10/deadline June 15)
-- U.S. payments network operator Visa Inc to acquireVisa Europe (notified May 10/deadline June 15/simplified)
JUNE 17
-- Spanish lender Caixabank to acquire Portugal'sBanco BPI (notified May 12/deadline June17/simplified)
-- Swiss-based chemicals company Ineos toacquire full control of UK peer Inovyn (notified May 12/deadlineJune 17/simplified)
-- Danish food company Danish Crown to acquiresole control of meat trader SPF-Denmark (notified May12/deadline June 17/simplified)
JUNE 20
-- European packaging maker Ardagh to acquiresome facilities from beverage can makers Ball and Rexam (notified May 18/deadline June 20/simplified)
-- Hon Hai Precision, also known as Foxconn,intends to buy a majority of Japanese electronics company Sharp (notified on May 13/deadline June 20)
-- Dublin-based support services group DCC Holding to acquire retail fuel and aviation fuel provider Dansk Fuels(notified on May 13/deadline June 20)
-- PitPoint and Primagaz Nederland to take joint control ofPitPoint LNG, a liquefied natural gas provider in theNetherlands, Luxembourg and Germany (notified on May 13/deadlineJune 20/simplified)
JUNE 22
-- Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp to acquireDell's IT services unit (notified May 18/deadline June22/simplified)
JUNE 25
-- Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board and GlobalInfrastructure Management to acquire joint control of thefreight haulage company Pacific Natonal of Australia's Asciano (notified on May 14/deadline June 25/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)
AUG 18
-- CK Hutchison Holdings Ltd and Vimpelcom to merge their Italian mobile operations (notified Feb.5/deadline extended to Aug 18 from Aug. 10 after the companiesasked for more time)
SEPT 20
-- U.S. rail equipment maker Wabtec Corp to acquireFrench peer Faiveley Transport SA (notified April4/deadline extended to Sept. 20 from May 12 after the EuropeanCommission opened an in-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 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 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. (Compiled by Foo Yun Chee)
