BRUSSELS, Jan 15 (Reuters) - The following are mergers underreview by the European Commission and a brief guide to the EUmerger process:
APPROVALS AND WITHDRAWALS
-- U.S. drinks can maker Ball Corp to acquireBritish rival Rexam Plc (approved on Jan. 15)
-- TDR Capital investment funds taking joint control ofBritish fuel station operator Euro Garages (approved on Jan. 15)
NEW LISTINGS
-- McKesson to acquire certain businesses, notablypharmaceutical wholesaling in UK and Ireland, from UDGHealthcare (notified Jan. 14/deadline Feb. 18)
-- U.S. buyout firm Carlyle Group to acquiree Italiancustomer services group Comdata (notified Jan. 13/deadline Feb.17/simplified)
EXTENSIONS AND OTHER CHANGES
None
FIRST-STAGE REVIEWS BY DEADLINE
JAN 12
-- Oilfield services provider Halliburton to buyrival Baker Hughes in a stock and cash transaction(notified Nov. 27/deadline Jan. 12)
JAN 19
-- Spanish travel technology company Amadeus toacquire airline technology services Navitaire which is asubsidiary of Accenture Plc (notified Dec. 4/deadlineJan. 19)
JAN 20
-- Creation of a joint venture between Lov Group Invest SASand De Agostini for the production and distribution of contentfor television and multimedia platforms (notified Dec 7/deadlineJan. 20)
JAN 22
-- Investment bank Goldman Sachs and private equityfirm Astorg Asset Management to jointly acquire French drugmakerHRA Pharma
-- Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to acquireJapanese forklift maker Unicarriers Holdings (notified Dec.9/deadline Jan. 22/simplified)
JAN 25
-- German wind turbine maker Nordex to acquireSpanish firm Acciona's wind power business (notifiedDec. 10/deadline Jan. 25/simplified)
JAN 26
-- Belgian insurer Ageas to acquire French insurerAxa's Portuguese operations (notified Dec. 11/deadlineJan. 26/simplified)
JAN 29
-- Steelmaker ArcelorMittal and a group made up ofBanco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, Banco de Sabadell, Banco Santander, Banco Popular Espanol, Bankia, Caixabank, Bankintercaja, Caja Rural de Navarra and Kutxabank to jointly acquire steel tube maker Grupo Condesa(notified Dec. 16/deadline Jan. 29)
FEB 1
-- Canadian fund CDPQ to acquire 30 percent stake inBombardier's rail transportation business for $1.5billion (notified Dec. 17/deadline Feb. 1)
FEB 2
-- Investment fund CVC Capital Partners Ltd to buy40 percent stake in motorway services provider Moto with UKprivate sector pension fund USS (notified Dec. 18/deadline Feb.2/simplified)
-- Canada's Alimentation Couche Tard to acquire Topaz EnergyGroup Limited (notified Dec. 18/deadline Feb. 2/simplified)
-- Spain's Red Electrica Corporacion's Chilean subsidiaryand Engie to take joint control of TEN (notified Dec.18/deadline Feb. 2/simplified)
-- Dutch provider of temporary employment services Randstad to acquire Sweden's Proffice (notified Dec.18/deadline Feb. 2/simplified)
-- U.S. buyout firm Carlyle Group to buy Dutchlingerie firm Hunkemoller from its private equity owners(notified Jan. 8/deadline Feb. 2/simplified)
FEB 4
-- U.S.-based Computer developer Western Digital to acquireoutstanding shares of SanDisk, designer of data storageproducts. (notified on Dec. 22/deadline Feb. 4)
-- Mannai Corporation to buy majority stake in France-basedprovider of information technology Gfi Informatique from Apax Partners, LLP and Boussard & Gavaudan Holding Limited (notified on Dec. 22/deadline Feb. 4/simplified)
-- Formation of Chinese metal producing and distributingjoint venture between Gonvarri Corporacion Financiera, part ofSpain's Acek Desarollo y Gestion Industrial, and Dongguan SummitMetal Products Co, part of a Japanese group headed by SumitomoCorp (notified on Dec. 22/deadline Feb. 4/simplified)
FEB 5
-- Oilfield services company Schlumberger to buy equipmentmaker Cameron International (notified on Dec. 23/deadline Feb.5)
FEB 8
-- Indian IT services company HCL Technologies toacquire Swedish automaker Volvo's external ITbusiness (notified on Jan. 4/deadline Feb. 8/simplified)
-- Pension funds USS Nero Limited of Britain, OPSEU PensionPlan Trust Fund of Canada and PGGM N.V. of the Netherlands toacquire Spanish infrastructure firm Global VÃa Infraestructurasfrom Bankia and FCC (notified on Jan.4/deadline Feb. 8)
FEB 9
-- La Compagnie des Cartes Carburant, majority owned byEdenred, to form joint venture in company fuel cards with UnionTank Eckstein, in which Edenred also has a stake (notified onJan. 5/deadline Feb 9/simplified)
FEB 10
-- BP is reorganising its Ruhr Oel refining jointventure in Germany, under which it will get 100 percent of theGelsenkirchen refinery (notified on Jan. 6/deadline Feb10/simplified)
FEB 11
-- Dental supply maker DENTSPLY to acquire controlof the whole of Sirona Dental Systems (notifiedJan.7/deadline Feb.11)
FEB 12
-- Airbus Safran Launchers, a 50/50 joint venture betweenAirbus and Safran, to acquire sole controlover satellite group Arianespace (notified on Jan. 8/deadlineFeb. 12)
-- Swiss-based investment group Cofra Holding AG to acquiresole control over German company Hans und Ottmar Binder-Group,which offers trims for vehicles (notified on Jan. 8/deadlineFeb. 12/simplified)
-- U.S. video game maker Activision Blizzard toacquire Dublin-based "Candy Crush Saga" creator King DigitalEntertainment (notified on Jan. 8/deadline Feb. 12)
-- Hammerson and Allianz Group to form joint ventureacquisition of loan porfolio secured against 1.85 billion eurosof property in Dundrum Town Centre, Dublin (notified on Jan.8/deadline Feb. 12/simplified)
FEB 15
-- Goldman Sachs to acquire UK human resourcessoftware company Northgate NGA from owner KKR in a debtfor equity swap (notified Jan. 11/deadline Feb. 15/simplified)
-- British Private equity investor Cinven toacquire Munich Re's Italian insurance unit ErgoItalia (notified Jan. 11/deadline Feb. 15/simplified)
FEB 16
-- German wind turbine maker Nordex to acquireSpanish firm Acciona's wind power business (approved onJan. 13)
-- Macquarie infrastructure investment fund MEIF4 to buy a49 percent stake in Italian hydropower company Hydro DolomitiEnel from Enel (notified Jan. 12/deadline Feb.16/simplified)
-- Beauty products company Coty to acquire 43brands from Procter & Gamble (notified Jan. 12/deadlineFeb. 16)
FEB 17
-- U.S. buyout firm Carlyle Group to acquiree Italiancustomer services group Comdata (notified Jan. 13/deadline Feb.17/simplified)
FEB 18
-- McKesson to acquire certain businesses, notablypharmaceutical wholesaling in UK and Ireland, from UDGHealthcare (notified Jan. 14/deadline Feb. 18)
NEW LISTINGS
MARCH 3
-- Cable telecoms company Liberty Global's Belgiansubsidiary Telenet to buy mobile network operator Basefrom Dutch group KPN (notified Aug. 17/deadlineextended to March 17 from March 3)
MARCH 9
-- U.S. office supplier Staples to acquire U.S.rival Office Depot (notified Aug. 21/deadline extendedfor the third time to March 9 from March 2 after the companiesasked for more time)
APRIL 22
-- Hutchison Whampoa to acquire Telefonica's O2 UK subsidiary (notified Sept. 11/deadline extendedfor the fifth time to April 22 from April 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 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)
