Breaking City News
EU mergers and takeovers (Oct 15)
BRUSSELS, Oct 15 (Reuters) - The following are mergers under review by the European Commission and a brief guide to the EU merger process:
APPROVALS AND WITHDRAWALS
— U.S. private equity investor Bain Capital Private Equity to acquire UK insurance service company esure Group (approved Oct. 12)
— French investment bank Bpifrance and French energy company Vallourec Tubes to acquire joint control of Vallourec Umbilicals (approved Oct. 12)
— Semiconductor company Broadcom to acquire technology company CA (approved Oct. 12)
— 3i Infrastructure and Danish pension company ATP to invest in telecoms operator Tampnet (approved Oct. 12)
— U.S. private equity firm Hellman & Friedman to acquire German payment system company Concardis Payment Group (approved Oct. 12)
— UK insurer Prudential subsidiary M&G Limited to acquire a 50 percent stake in a UK shopping center, giving it jointl control with existing shareholder and property developer Hammerson (notified Oct. 11/deadline Nov. 19/simplified)
EXTENSIONS AND OTHER CHANGES
— Walt Disney Co to buy the bulk of Twenty-First Century Fox Inc's film and television assets (notified Sept. 14/deadline extended to Nov. 6 from Oct. 19 after Disney offered concessions)
FIRST-STAGE REVIEWS BY DEADLINE
— French equity firm PAI Partners to acquire board game publisher Asmodee (notified Sept. 11/deadline Oct. 16/simplified)
— Japanese industrial gas supplier Taiyo Nippon Sanso to acquire U.S. industrial gas company Praxair's European business (notified Sept. 11/deadline Oct. 16)
— Private equity company the Carlyle Group to acquire a stake in U.S. broadcast services company NEP Group (notified Sept. 12/deadline Oct. 17/simplified)
— German industrial gas company Messer Group and private equity group CVC to acquire certain assets from German chemical company Linde Group (notified Sept. 14/deadline Oct. 19/simplified)
— U.S. software company Microsoft Corp to buy privately held coding website GitHub Inc (notified Sept. 14/deadline Oct. 19)
— U.S. computer and printer maker HP Inc to acquire U.K.-based office equipment dealer Apogee Corp (notified Sept. 17/deadline Oct. 22)
— Private equity fund Lone Star to acquire Spanish company CaixaBank's real estate assets (notified Sept. 17/deadline Oct. 22)
— Shipping group CMA CGM to acquire shipping and logistics company Container Finance's holdings in Multi-Link Terminals Ltd and CD Holding Oy (notified Sept. 17/deadline Oct. 22)
— U.S. aircraft parts maker Spirit Aerosystems Holdings Inc to acquire EU-based supplier Asco Industries NV (notified Sept. 17/deadline Oct. 22)
— German luxury carmakers Daimler and BMW to launch a car-sharing joint venture (notified Sept. 17/deadline Oct. 22)
— U.S. travel and restaurent reservation and related services company Booking Holdings Inc to acquire Australian hotel metasearch site HotelsCombined (notified Sept. 18/deadline Oct. 23)
— U.S. private equity investor Advent International Corporation to acquire Irish telecommunications, power and transport company KN Group (notified Sept. 20/deadline Oct. 25/simplified)
— China Huaxin Post and Telecom Technologies Co., Ltd and Netherlands company Juniper Networks International B.V. to set up a joint venture (notified Sept. 21/deadline Oct. 26/simplified)
— Private equity fund EQT Fund Management to acquire sole control of French water and wastewater management company Holding d'Infrastructures des Métiers de l'Environnement S.A.S., which owns Saur S.A.S. (notified Sept. 21/deadline Oct. 26/simplified)
— Japanese company Sony Corp. to acquire majority control of UK music publishing company EMI Music Publishing (notified Sept. 21/deadline Oct. 26)
— Canadian companies OMERS Administration Corp, British Columbia Investment Management Corp, Alberta Investment Management Corp, Dutch fund manager PGGM Vermogensbeheer B.V. and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board to acquire joint control of U.S. energy company Puget Sound Holdings (notified Sept. 21/deadline Oct. 26/simplified)
— Irish investor aircraft and asset manager ORIX Aviation Systems Limited to acquire 30 percent of Irish aircraft leasing company Avolon Holdings Limited, a subsidiary of Chinese leasing group Bohai Capital Holding (notified Sept. 24/deadline Oct. 29/simplified)
— UK packaging business DS Smith to acquire Spanish corrugated packing provider Europac (notified Sept. 24/deadline Oct. 29)
— U.S. pet food maker Mars Petcare to acquire European veterinary business Anicura (notified Sept. 10/deadline extended to Oct. 29 after Mars offered concessions)
— Germany's Thyssenkrupp and India's Tata Steel to set up a steel joint venture (notified Sept. 25/deadline Oct. 30)
— Private quity fund OEP ITS Coopertief Holding to acquire Norwegian software licensing and IT consulting services firm Crayon Group Holding (notified Sept. 28/deadline Nov. 6/simplified)
— Shanghai travel and hospitality group Jin Jiang International Holdings to acquire Radisson Holdings Incorporated and 69.65 percent of hotel operator Radisson Hospitality (notified Sept. 28/deadline Nov. 6)
— Japanese Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited to acquire Jersey biotechnology company Shire (notified Sept. 28/deadline Nov. 6)
— Italian natural gas companies Societa Gasdotti Italian and Snam to launch an Italian natural gas joint venture (notified Oct. 1/deadline Nov. 7/simplified)
— Power and thermal management solutions company Delta Electronics to acquire Thai electronics manufacturing company Delta Electronics Public Company Limited (notified Oct. 1/deadline Nov. 7/simplified)
— SELP, a joint venture between Luxembourg industrial property and warehouse owner SEGRO European Logistics Partnership, and Canadian pension fund investor Public Sector Pension Investment Board to acquire a Spanish distribution warehouse from French company ID Logistics Group (notified Oct. 1/deadline Nov. 7/simplified)
— Dutch subsidiary of Saudi Arabian Oil Company (IPO-ARMO.SE), Overseas Holding Cooperatief U.A., to acquire remaining shares in Netherlands-based specialty chemicals company of ARLANXEO Holding B.V. (notified Oct. 2/deadline Nov. 8/simplified)
— Private equity firm BC Partners to acquire British veterinary practice group VetPartners (notified Oct. 2/deadline Nov. 8/simplified)
— Saudi oil company Saudi Aramco to acquire the rest of Dutch chemicals company Arlanxeo whic it does not own (notified Oct. 2/deadline Nov. 8/simplified)
— German car part maker Continental Automotive Holding and Chinese battery and power system manufacturer Sichuan Chengfei Integration Technology Corporation to set up an electric vehicle battery systems joint venture notified Oct. 3/deadline Nov. 9/simplified)
— International cable company Liberty Global and its Belgian subsidiary, Telenet, to acquire all outstanding shares of Belgian financial holding company De Vijver Media (notified Oct. 3/deadline Nov. 9)
— U.S. investment management company Rhone Capital to acquire industrial company Maxam (notified Oct. 4/deadline Nov. 12/simplified)
— Private equity firm EQT and hearing aids maker Widex to set up a joint venture which will combine Widex with EQT's hearing aids unit Sivantos (notified Oct. 4/deadline Nov. 12)
— Electronic and motor manufacturing company Nidec to acquire sole control of U.S. white goods maker Whirlpool Corp's compressor subsidiary Embraco (notified Oct. 8/deadline Nov. 14)
— Brazilian pulp and paper producer Suzano Papel e Celulose to acquire Brazilian peer Fibria Celulose (notified Oct. 9/deadline Nov. 15)
— KLIO to acquire German e-book subscription service Skoobe which is jointly owned by German publishing companies Bertelsmann and Holtzbrinck (notified Oct. 9/deadline Nov. 15/simplified)
— U.S. fashion group Michael Kors to acquire Italian peer Gianni Versace (notified Oct. 11/deadline Nov. 19/simplified)
— Deutsche Telekom to acquire Swedish peer Tele2's Dutch unit and merge it with its Dutch business T-Mobile Nederland (notified May 2/deadline Nov. 30)
— Copper company KME, which is part of Intek Group , to acquire German peer MKM Mansfelder Kupfer and Messing GmbH (notified June 4/deadline Dec. 13)
— French aerospace and defence group Thales to acquire Franco-Dutch chipmaker Gemalto (notified June 18/deadline Jan. 8)
— German copper products maker Wieland-Werke to acquire German copper smelter Aurubis' flat rolled products unit Products Schwermetall (notified June 13/deadline Jan. 17)
— German company BASF to acquire Belgian chemicals company Solvay's worldwide polyamide business (notified May 22/deadline extended to Jan. 25 from Jan. 11 after the companies asked for more time)
— Siemens and Alstom to merge their railway operations (notified June 8/deadline Jan. 28)
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. (Reporting by Daphne Psaledakis)