BRUSSELS, May 18 (Reuters) - The following are mergers under
review by the European Commission and a brief guide to the EU
merger process:
APPROVALS AND WITHDRAWALS:
-- Czech power provider Dalkia Ceska Republika, controlled
by French power company EDF <EDF.PA> and French water and waste
company Veolia <VIE.PA>, to acquire Czech electricity supplier
NWR Energy, controlled by miner New World Resources N.V.
<NWRSsp.PR><NWRS.L> (approved May 17)
-- Luxembourg-based power supplier Enovos and Swiss energy
company Avelar, which is controlled by Russia's Renova Holdings
Ltd, acquire joint control of newly created Luxembourg-based
energy company Aveleos S.A. (approved May 7)
NEW LISTINGS:
-- Private equity firm Warburg Pincus acquires British
discount retailer Poundland (notified May 7/deadline June
16/simplified)
EXTENSIONS AND OTHER CHANGES:
None
FIRST-STAGE REVIEWS BY DEADLINE:
MAY 19
-- Private equity investors Oak Hill Capital Partners,
Cinven [] and CVC Capital Partners SICAV-FIS S.A. to
acquire joint control of Ireland-based aircraft leasing services
company Avolon Aerospace Ltd (notified April 12/deadline May
19/simplified)
-- U.S. private equity investor Oaktree Capital Group LLC
[] acquires U.S. aluminium producer Aleris International
Inc [] (notified April 12/deadline May 19/simplified)
MAY 20
-- U.S. beverage company Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc <CCE.N>
acquires Swiss bottler Coca-Cola Drycker Sverige AB and
Norwegian bottler Coca-Cola Drikker AS (notified April
13/deadline May 20/simplified)
MAY 21
-- Private equity firm 3i, via 3i Group <III.L> and certain
funds managed by 3i Investments plc, to acquire French health
services operator Vedici Groupe SAS (notified April 14/deadline
May 21)
-- Oil company Total Italia Spa, controlled by French oil
group Total Holdings Europe S.A.S. <TOTF.PA>, and ERG Petroli
Spa, part of Italian oil refiner ERG Spa <ERG.MI>, to acquire
joint control of a newly created refinery venture (notified
April 14/deadline May 21)
MAY 25
-- Nordic-based holding company Investor AB acquires sole
control of Swedish aerospace company Saab AB <SAABb.ST>, which
is jointly controlled by Investor AB and BAE Systems plc
<BAES.L>, and its subsidiaries (notified April 15/deadline May
25/simplified)
MAY 27
-- Egyptian fertiliser producer Orascom Construction
Industries S.A.E acquires the fertiliser and melamine businesses
of Dutch chemicals group DSM <DSMN.AS> (notified April
19/deadline May 27/simplified)
-- Austrian lender Erste Bank <ERST.VI> acquires Austrian
bank ASK (notified April 19/deadline May 27)
-- Eurovia, part of construction group Vinci, acquires six
subsidiaries from the Tarmac Group, which is owned by mining
group Anglo American <AAL.L> (notified April 19/deadline May 27)
-- French national lottery operator La Francaise des Jeux
and French hotel, casino and tourist group le Groupe Lucien
Barriere to set up a joint venture for Internet gambling
(notified April 19/deadline May 27/simplified)
MAY 28
-- Italian oil and gas group Eni <ENI.MI> acquires Austrian
oil retailer Mobil Oil Austria <MOBIL.LG> (notified April
20/deadline May 28)
MAY 31
-- Anglo-Dutch consumer goods company Unilever <ULVR.L>
acquires Sara Lee Corp's <SLE.N> personal care brands (notified
April 21/deadline May 31)
JUNE 2
-- U.S. electrical products maker Cooper Industries <CBE.N>
plc and U.S. industrial group Danaher Corp <DHR.N> acquire joint
control of a joint venture for parts of their tools businesses
(notified April 23/deadline June 2/simplified)
JUNE 3
-- Train operator Eurostar (UK) Ltd, French railway company
Societe Nationale des Chemins de fer Francais (SNCF) and Belgian
rail operator Societe Nationale des Chemins de fer Belge (SNCB)
to restructure their contractual cooperative joint venture to a
full-function joint venture to be jointly controlled by London &
Continental Railways Ltd (LCR) and SNCF (notified April
26/deadline June 3)
-- DFDS Tor Line Holding AB, a subsidiary of Danish ferry
operator DFDS A/S <DFDS.CO>, which is controlled by ocean
transport company Lauritzen Fonden, to acquire sole control of
logistics company Norfolk Holdings B.V., which is part of Danish
shipping and oil group A.P. Moller-Maersk <MAERSKb.CO> (notified
April 26/deadline June 3)
JUNE 4
-- Private equity firm Advent International acquires British
furniture retailer DFS (notified April 27/deadline June 4)
JUNE 7
-- Swiss agrochemicals company Syngenta <SYNN.VX> to acquire
U.S. peer Monsanto's <MON.N> global hybrid sunflower seeds
business (notified April 28/deadline June 7)
JUNE 8
-- Private equity firm CVC Capital Partners to acquire a
stake in telecommunications company R Cable from Spanish savings
bank Caixanova (notified April 29/deadline June 8/simplified)
JUNE 14
-- German discount retailer Lidl acquires Plus Trei Romania
and Plus Trei Bulgaria (notified May 5/deadline June 14)
JUNE 16
-- Gazprom Germania, a subsidiary of OOO Gazprom Export,
which is wholly owned by OAO Gazprom <GAZP.MM>, and Italian
utility A2A Spa <A2.MI> to operate an Italian gas joint venture
(notified May 7/deadline June 16)
JUNE 17
-- U.S. household product company Procter & Gamble Co <PG.N>
acquires U.S. consumer goods company Sara Lee's <SLE.N> air care
unit Ambi Pur (notified May 10/deadline June 17)
-- German power company enviaM Mitteldeutsche Energie AG,
controlled by German utility RWE <RWEG.DE>, acquires German gas
distributor Mitgas, which is jointly controlled by RWE and
Kommunalwirtschaft Sachsen-Anhalt GmbH & Co Beteiligungs-KG
(notified May 10/deadline June 17)
-- JPMorgan Chase & Co <JPM.N> to acquire the non-U.S.
assets of commodities joint venture RBS Sempra from Royal Bank
of Scotland <RBS.L> and Sempra Energy <SRE.N> (notified May
10/deadline June 17)
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 to 35 working
days, to consider either a company's proposed remedies 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 the
clearance of uncontroversial first-stage mergers without giving
any reason for its decision. Cases may be reclassified as
non-simplified -- that is, ordinary first-stage reviews -- until
they are approved.
