EU mergers and takeovers (May 13)

By Reuters

May 13, 2014 09:43 AM EDT

May 13 (Reuters) - The following are mergers under review by the European Commission and a brief guide to the EU merger process:

APPROVALS AND WITHDRAWALS

None

NEW LISTINGS

-- German private equity firm Kallisto Einhundertste Vermoegensverwaltungs-GmbH, which is controlled by private equity company Permira Holdings Ltd, to acquire German chemical company CABB (notified May 12/deadline June 19/simplified)

-- Private equity firm CVC Capital Partners to buy specialty dry-mix solutions producer Parexgroup from construction company Materis (notified May 8/deadline June 18)

EXTENSIONS AND OTHER CHANGES

None

FIRST-STAGE REVIEWS BY DEADLINE

MAY 15

-- Swedish farmers group Lantmannen and Finnish timber and bioenergy company Vapo to combine their Swedish and Latvian wood pellets businesses (notified April 3/deadline May 15)

MAY 16

-- U.S. auto parts maker Visteon Corp to acquire U.S. car parts maker Johnson Controls' car electronics business (notified April 4/deadline May 16)

MAY 23

-- Swiss agricultural trader Ecom Agroindustrial to acquire Armajaro Holdings' commoditytrading arm (notified April 11/deadline May 23)

MAY 27

-- Affiliates of private equity firms KKR and H.I.G. Capital to acquire Estro Groep B.V., a Dutch provider of child day care services (notified April 15/deadline May 27/simplified)

MAY 28

-- Canadian private equity investment firm Onex Corp to sell The Warranty Group, a provider of extended warranty contracts, to an affiliate of TPG Capital Management LP for an enterprise value of about $1.5 billion (notified April 16/deadline May 28/simplified)

-- British-based equity capital group Charterhouse Capital Limited Group to buy a majority stake in Italian cheese firm Nuova Castelli S.p.A. (notified April 16/deadline May 28)

-- U.S. firm Federal-Mogul Corp to buy part of the friction materials business, including the European friction materials business, of Honeywell International Inc (notified April 16/deadline May 28)

JUNE 3

-- Private French agro-industrial group Soufflet to take sole control of French bakery group Neuhauser (notified April 23/deadline June 3/simplified)

JUNE 10

-- Italian insurer Unipol to sell assets to German peer Allianz (notified April 29/deadline June 10)

JUNE 11

-- Danish cooperative food company Danish Crown to acquire remaining 50 percent of Saturn Nordic Holding AB, which owns pork and beef processing firm Sokolow, from Finnish food company HKScan OYJ (notified April 30/deadline June 11/simplified)

JUNE 12

-- Heidelberger Leben Holding AG, which is owned by private equity firm Cinven Capital Management, to acquire insurer Skandia's units in Germany and Austria (notified May 2/deadline June 12/simplified)

-- U.S. chemical manufacturer Ashland Inc to sell its water technologies unit to private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (notified May 2/deadline June 12)

JUNE 13

-- British utility Centrica, iCON Infrastructure Partners and Brookfield Renewable Energy Partners to buy the retail arm and other assets of Irish state-owned power provider Bord Gais Energy (notified May 5/deadline June 13)

JUNE 16

-- Kuwaiti state oil group Kuwait Petroleum Corp to acquire Italian petroleum product companies Shell Italia SpA and Shell Italia Aviazione Srl from energy company Royal Dutch Shell (notified May 6/deadline June 16)

-- Japanese metals maker Hitachi Metals Ltd to acquire a 51 percent stake in MMC Superalloy Corp which is now solely controlled by Mitsubishi Materials Corp (notified May 6/deadline June 16/simplified)

JUNE 26

-- Spanish telecoms provider Telefonica to buy Dutch peer KPN's German unit (notified Oct. 31/deadline extended for the third time to June 26 from June 23)

JULY 8

-- Swiss cement maker Holcim to buy some of Mexican peer Cemex's assets in Europe . (notified Sept. 3/deadline extended for the third time to July 8 from May 2)

SEPT 5

-- Mexican cement producer Cemex to acquire Swiss peer Holcim's Spanish cement business (notified Feb. 28/deadline extended to April 23 from April 4 after Cemex submitted concessions/in-depth investigation announced April 23/new deadline Sept. 5)

SEPT 18

-- U.S. chemical maker Huntsman Corp to acquire U.S. peer Rockwood Holdings's titanium dioxide pigments business (notified Jan. 29/deadline extended to Sept. 18 from Aug. 20/commitments submitted on March 28)

SEPT 19

-- U.S. cable company Liberty Global to acquire Dutch peer Ziggo (notified March 14/deadline extended for the third time to Sept. 19 from May 8 from April 23 after the European Commission opened an in-depth probe)

SUSPENSION OF DEADLINE

-- Hutchison 3G UK to acquire Telefonica Ireland, a unit of Spanish telecoms provider Telefonica (notified Oct. 1/deadline suspended while the Commission waits for details of Hutchison's revised concessions)

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 working days 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. (Editing by Foo Yun Chee)

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