BRUSSELS, Oct 16 (Reuters) - The following are mergers underreview by the European Commission and a brief guide to the EUmerger process:
APPROVALS AND WITHDRAWALS
-- Private equity firm Cinven to buy German life insurerHeidelberger Leben from British lender Lloyds Banking Group (approved Oct. 16)
NEW LISTINGS
None
EXTENSIONS AND OTHER CHANGES
None
FIRST-STAGE REVIEWS BY DEADLINE
OCT 22
-- Swiss cement maker Holcim to exchange someassets and combine others with Mexican peer Cemex (notified Sept. 3/deadline extended to Oct. 22 from Oct.8 after a national regulator asked for the case to be referredto it)
-- Dutch pension group PGGM to acquire control of gasdistributor Northern Offshore Upstream Gas Pipeline System,which is jointly controlled by French gas and power group GDFSuez and EBN B.V. (notified Sept.17/deadline Oct. 22/simplified)
OCT 24
-- Private equity firm Triton to buy telecoms and energyinfrastructure builder Alpine Energie from Spanish constructiongroup FCC (notified Sept. 19/deadline Oct.24/simplified)
OCT 25
-- Japanese logistics company Nippon Express Co Ltd to buy a49 percent stake in Japanese electronics company NEC Corp subsidiary NEC Logistics (notified Sept. 20/deadlineOct. 25/simplified)
-- Private equity firm CVC Capital Partners to buy some ofCampbell Soup Co's brands (notified Sept. 20/deadlineOct. 25)
OCT 29
-- Dutch dredger Boskalis and investment companyReggeborgh to acquire joint control of subsea power cablessupplier Visser & Smit Marine Contracting B.V. which is nowsolely controlled by Reggeborgh (notified Sept. 24/deadliineOct. 29)
OCT 30
-- U.S. group Koch Industries to acquireelectronic components maker Molex (notified Sept.25/deadline Oct. 30/simplified)
NOV 4
-- Private investment firm TPG and CaixaBank S.A. to set upa property joint venture by acquiring the business of CaixaBankunit Servihabitat (notified Sept. 27/deadline Nov. 4/simplified)
-- Piper Verlag GmbH to acquire a 50 percent stake in thejoint venture G+J RBA GmbH & Co which is now solely owned byGerman publisher Gruner + Jahr AG & Co (notified Sept.27/deadline Nov. 4/simplified)
NOV 5
-- Switzerland-based INEOS and Belgian chemicals companySolvay to form a joint venture (notified Sept.16/deadline extended to Nov. 5 from Oct. 21 after Solvay offeredconcessions)
-- British telecoms operator Vodafone to buy aminority stake in Vodafone Omnitel N.V. from U.S. peer VerizonCommunications Inc (notified Sept. 30/deadline Nov.5/simplified)
NOV 6
-- South African furniture retailer Steinhoff InternationalHoldings to acquire electrical appliances retailerRudolf Leiner Gesellschaft m.b.H. and LKMBeteiligungsgesellschaft m.b.H. (notified Oct. 1/deadline Nov.6/simplified)
-- Hutchison 3G UK to acquire Telefonica Ireland,a unit of Spanish telecoms provider Telefonica (notified Oct. 1/deadline Nov. 6)
NOV 12
-- U.S. maker of scientific and laboratory equipment ThermoFisher Scientific to buy genetic testing equipment makerLife Technologies (notified Oct. 7/deadline Nov. 12)
NOV 14
-- Japanese trading house Mitsui & Co, IskandarInvestment Berhad (IIB) which is majority owned by Malaysianstate investor Khazanah Nasional Berhad, andinvestment company UWI Capital One to acquire joint control ofMedini Iskandar Malaysia Sdn Bhd, which is now jointlycontrolled by IIB and UWI (notified Oct. 9/deadline Nov.14/simplified)
NOV 18
-- U.S. asset management fund Ares Management LLC andCanada's Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board to acquire jointcontrol of U.S. building products company CPG International LLC,which is now solely controlled by Ares (notified Oct.11/deadline Nov. 18/simplified)
-- Norwegian telecoms operator Telenor to take astake in a venture owned by Norwegian publishing house Schibsted and Singapore Press Holdings, and also to set up ajoint venture with Schibsted focusing on South American business(notified Oct. 11/deadline Nov. 18/simplified)
-- Parkwind, which is an investment vehicle of Belgiansupermarket chain Colruyt Group, and special purposevehicle Summit Renewable Energy, which is owned by Japan'sSumitomo Corp, to acquire joint control of wind farmoperator Belwind 1, which is now solely owned by SummitRenewable Energy (notified Oct. 11/deadline Nov. 18/simplified)
-- French luxury goods company LVMH to buy an 80percent stake in Italian luxury cashmere clothing brand LoroPiana (notified Oct. 11/deadline Nov. 18/simplified)
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.
Lloyds (LLOY)
