BRUSSELS, March 14 (Reuters) - The following are mergersunder review by the European Commission and a brief guide to theEU merger process:
APPROVALS AND WITHDRAWALS
-- Private equity firm Equistone Partners Europe to acquirecar parts maker Mecaplast Group (approved March 11)
-- British plastic packaging company RPC Group toacquire French bottle-top maker Global Closure Systems (approvedMarch 11)
NEW LISTINGS
-- Austria's Erste Group Bank and U.S. companyGlobal Payments Inc to acquire joint control of GlobalPayments s.r.o. (notified March 10/deadline April 19)
EXTENSIONS AND OTHER CHANGES
None
FIRST-STAGE REVIEWS BY DEADLINE
MARCH 15
-- China National Chemical Corp (ChemChina) toacquire German industrial machinery maker KraussMaffei Group (notified Feb. 9/deadline March 15)
MARCH 22
-- Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) resin producer IndoramaNetherlands to acquire Guadarranque Polyester (notified Feb.16/deadline March 22)
-- Private equity firm Equistone Partners Europe SAS toacquire car parts maker Mecaplast Group (notified Feb.16/deadline March 22/simplified)
MARCH 29
-- Statoil Fuel and Retail to acquire fuelsbusiness of Dansk Fuels (notified on Feb. 4/deadline extended toMarch 29 from March 10 after the companies submittedconcessions)
MARCH 30
-- CK Hutchison Holdings Ltd and Vimpelcom to merge their Italian mobile operations (notified Feb.5/deadline extended to March 30 from March 11 after the Italiancompetition authority requested to take over the case)
-- Japanese employment agency Recruit to acquireDutch peer USG People (notified Feb. 19/deadline March30/simplified)
APRIL 1
-- British rivate equity firm Bridgepoint Group to acquirePolish children's apparel and toy store chain SMYK Group(notified Feb. 23/deadline April 1/simplified)
APRIL 6
-- U.S. food containers maker Newell Rubbermaid toacquire Jarden, U.S. maker of Sunbeam and Colemanproducts maker (notified Feb. 26/deadline April 6/simplified)
-- Global Infrastructure Partners and Canada Pension PlanInvestment Board to jointly acquire some businesses fromAustralian freight company Asciano (notified Feb.26/deadline April 6/simplified)
-- Worldline to acquire PaySquare from Equens(notified Feb. 26/deadline April 6)
APRIL 7
-- Hungarian oil and gas group MOL to acquire ENIHungaria and ENI Slovenia from Italian oil producer Eni (notified Feb. 29/deadline April 7)
-- U.S. private equity firms Warburg Pincus andGeneral Atlantic to jointly acquire U.S. asset managementcompany Pioneer U.S. (notified Feb. 29/deadline April7/simplified)
-- Private equity firms Apax Partners and Neuberger BermanAcquisition LLC to jointly acquire Italian tech servicesprovider Engineering Ingegneria Informatica SPA (notified Feb.29/deadline April 7/simplified)
-- U.S. technology consulting company Computer Sciences Corp to acquire British outsourcing company Xchanging Plc (notified Feb. 29/deadline April 7/simplified)
APRIL 15
-- French container shipping giant CMA CGM to acquireSingaporean rival Neptune Orient Lines (notified March8/deadline April 15)
MAY 19
-- Hutchison Whampoa to acquire Telefonica's O2 UK subsidiary (notified Sept. 11/deadline extendedto May 19 from April 22 after Hutchison offered concessions)
JULY 11
-- Oilfield services provider Halliburton to buyrival Baker Hughes in a stock and cash transaction(notified Nov. 27/deadline extended to July 11 after theCommission resumed its scrutiny of the deal)
JULY 12
-- Airbus Safran Launchers, a 50/50 joint venture betweenAirbus and Safran, to acquire sole control ofsatellite group Arianespace (notified on Jan. 8/deadlineextended to July 12 from Feb. 26 after the 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 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. (Compiled by Brussels newsroom)
