BRUSSELS, Dec 16 (Reuters) - The following are mergers underreview by the European Commission and a brief guide to the EUmerger process:
APPROVALS AND WITHDRAWALS
-- French group Danone to acquire U.S. organicfoods producer WhiteWave Foods Co (approved Dec. 16)
-- Germany's Deutsche Post AG to acquire UKpostal operator UK Mail Group (approved Dec. 16)
-- Italian utility Enel to acquire Italianfibre-optic company Metroweb which will merge with Enel OpenFiber, a joint venture with Italian state lender Cassa Depositie Prestiti (CDP) (approved Dec. 15)
-- German financial services company Allianz andDutch insurance company NN Group to acquire jointcontrol over German student housing company The FIZZ (approvedDec. 15)
NEW LISTINGS
None
EXTENSIONS AND OTHER CHANGES
None
FIRST-STAGE REVIEWS BY DEADLINE
DEC 21
-- Irish technology distribution company Exertis, which ispart of DCC PLC, to acquire UK data-storage companyHammer (notified Nov. 16/deadline Dec. 21)
DEC 22
-- Coca Cola Company to buy 50 percent stake inLithuanian mineral water producer Neptuno Vandenys from CocaCola Hellenic Bottling Company (notified Nov.17/deadline Dec. 22)
-- Verizon Communications to acquire U.S. internetcompany Yahoo (notified Nov. 17/deadline Dec. 22)
JAN 4
-- U.S. car sealing and thermal management products Dana to acquire transmissions and hydraulic and electronicparts maker Brevini Group's fluid power and power transmissionunits (notified Nov. 22/deadline Jan. 4/simplified)
JAN 5
-- UK engineering company Smiths Group to acquireU.S.-based Morpho Detection from French aerospace company Safran (notified Nov. 23/deadline Jan. 5)
-- Private equity firms Cinven, Permira and MidEuropa to acquire Polish e-commerce business Allegro and Polishprice comparison website Ceneo from South African media ande-commerce company Naspers (notified Nov. 23/deadline Jan.5/simplified)
JAN 6
-- Chinese insurance company Fosun to acquire German fashionhouse Tom Tailor (notified Nov. 24/deadline Jan. 6/simplified)
JAN 9
-- Venture capital company Rockaway Capital SE, energycompany EC Investments and Czech financial services company PPFGroup N.V. to create online shopping joint ventureSully System (notified Nov. 25/deadline Jan. 9/simplified)
-- Czech e-commerce services company Rockaway Capital SE,energy company EC Investments and Czech financial servicescompany PPF Group N.V. to acquire Sully systems, which will actas a holding company (notified Nov. 25/deadline Jan.9/simplified)
JAN 10
-- French automotive manufacturer Groupe PSA totake control of French second-hand car distributor Groupe Aramis(notified Nov. 28/deadline Jan. 10/simplified)
-- Business consultancy Everis Initiatives, which is asubsidiary of Japanese group NTT Data, and Spanish bankBankia to jointly acquire Spanish company NettitColaborative Payment, which is now solely controlled by Everis(notified Nov. 28/deadline Jan. 10/simplified)
JAN 11
-- U.S. medical devices maker Abbott Laboratories toacquire U.S. diagnostics company Alere (notified Nov.29/deadline Jan. 11)
JAN 13
-- Investment firm HIG Capital to acquire shares in Dutchrecycling company Ecore (notified Dec. 1/deadline Jan.13/simplifed)
-- U.S. conglomerate Koch Industries to acquireU.S. peer Guardian Industries (notified Dec. 1/deadline Jan.13/simplified)
JAN 17
-- German automotive parts supplier Rheinmetall Automotiveand Chinese automobile radiator company Zhejan Yinlun Machineryto form joint venture JV (notified Dec. 5/deadline Jan.17/simplified procedure)
-- U.S. investment firm KKR & Co. to take solecontrol of Japanese auto parts supplier Calsonic Kansei Corp (notified Dec. 5/deadline Jan. 17/simplified)
JAN 18
-- Private equity firm Permira to acquire online fashionproducts retailer Schustermann & Borenstein (notified Dec.6/deadline Jan. 18/simplified)
-- Private equity firm Permira to acquire Germanfashion retailer and exporter Schustermann & Borenstein(notified Dec. 6/deadline Jan. 18/simplified)
JAN 20
-- U.S. investment group KKR to acquire a majoritystake in Swedish bed and mattrass maker Hilding Anders (notified Dec. 8/deadline Jan. 20/simplified)
-- South Africa's Barloworld Ltd and Germany'sBayWa to establish BHBW joint venture foragriculture and materials handling operations in southern Africa(notified Dec. 8/deadline Jan. 20/simplified)
-- U.S. investment group KKR to acquire a majoritystake in Swedish bed and mattrass maker Hilding Anders (notified Dec. 8/deadline Jan. 20/simplified)
-- South Africa's Barloworld Ltd and Germany'sBayWa to establish BHBW joint venture foragriculture and materials handling operations in southernAfrica. (notified Dec. 8/deadline Jan. 20/simplified)
JAN 23
-- France's Schneider Electric and DB Energie toform a joint venture (notified Dec. 9/deadline Jan.23/simplified)
JAN 25
-- Japanese holding company Sompo Holdings Inc toacquireNew York-listed insurer Endurance Specialty Holdings Ltd (notified Dec. 13/deadline Jan. 25/simplified)
JAN 26
-- Japan's Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings Corporation and Ube Industries to acquire joint control ofelectrolytes makers Changshu MC Ionic Solutions CN Co Ltd andAET Electrolyte Technologies (Zhangjiagang) Co. Ltd (notifiedDec. 14/deadline Jan. 26/simplified)
-- EP Investment and EP Investment II to jointly acquireCzech utility Energeticky a prumyslovy holding, a.s. (EPH)(notified Dec. 14/deadline Jan. 26/simplified)
FEB 23
-- German cement producers Heidelbergcement andSchwenk to jointly acquire Mexican peer Cemex's Croatian unit (notified Sept. 5/deadline extended to Feb. 23from Oct. 10 after the European Commission opened an in-depthinvestigation)
FEB 28
-- U.S. chemicals company Dow Chemical to merge withDuPont (notified June 22/deadline Feb. 28)
MARCH 6
-- Deutsche Boerse and the London Stock Exchange plan to merge (notified Aug. 24/deadline extended toMarch 6 from Feb. 13 after the companies asked for more time)
MARCH 29
-- Chinese state-owned company China National Chemical Corp(ChemChina) to acquire Swiss pesticides and seedsgroup Syngenta (notified Sept. 23/deadline March 29)
SUSPENDED
-- Azerbaijan's state energy company SOCAR to buy stakes inGreek 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 isfiled 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)