BRUSSELS, May 21 (Reuters) – The following are mergers under
review by the European Commission and a brief guide to the EU
merger process:
APPROVALS AND WITHDRAWALS
— Private equity firms KKR and Bregal Fund to
jointly invest in private school operator Cognita (approved May
21)
— Swedish industrial holding company Lindengruppen and
Swedish asset management company Foundation Asset Management
Sweden to jointly acquire Swedish metals powder manufacturer
Hoganas (approved May 21)
— Australian warehouse operator Goodman Group to
acquire a stake in a container terminal owned by ports operator
DP World Limited, which is part of Dubai World
(approved May 8)
NEW LISTINGS
— U.S. derivatives and exchange and clearinghouse operator
IntercontinentalExchange Inc to buy New York Stock
Exchange operator NYSE Euronext (notified May
17/deadline June 24)
— Private equity firm Triton to buy recycling company
Befesa from Spanish renewable energy and infrastructure company
Abengoa (notified May 17/deadline June 24/simplified)
EXTENSIONS AND OTHER CHANGES
NONE
FIRST-STAGE REVIEWS BY DEADLINE
MAY 27
— Tokia Rubber, which is a subsidiary of Sumitomo
Electric Industries, to buy car parts maker Anvis Group
GmbH from H.I.G. Capital (notified April 16/deadline May 27)
MAY 28
— Food processor McCain Foods Group to buy potato products
supplier Lutosa Business (notified April 3/deadline extended to
May 28 from May 13 after McCain offered commitments)
MAY 29
— Otsuka Pharmaceutical, which is a subsidiary of Otsuka
Holdings Co, and Japanese trading house Mitsui & Co
to acquire stakes in Claris Otsuka Ltd which is owned
by Indian drugmaker Claris Lifesciences Ltd (notified
April 18/deadline May 29/simplified)
MAY 31
— Austrian mall developer Spar and the property arm of
German insurer Allianz to set up a property joint
venture (notified April 22/deadline May 31/simplified)
— L. Possehl Co & mbH to buy metal supplier Cookson
Precious Metals Business (notified April 22/deadline May
31/simplified)
— Canada Life, which is a subsidiary of Canadian life
insurer Great-West Lifeco, to acquire Irish Life
(notified April 22/deadline May 31)
JUNE 4
— Brazilian investment fund 3G Capital, and Berkshire
Hathaway to acquire joint control of U.S. ketchup maker
H.J. Heinz Co (notified April 24/deadline June 4)
— Syral China Investment, which is part of Tereos
International, and Wilmar China New Investments,
which is a unit of the Wilmar group, to acquire joint control of
Liaoning Jinxin Biology & Chemistry which is now solely owned by
Wilmar (April 24/deadline June 4/simplified)
JUNE 6
— Swiss chocolate maker Barry Callebaut to buy the
cocoa business of Singaporean group Petra Foods
(notified April 26/deadline June 6)
— Austrian chemical company Borealis to buy French oil
giant Total’s GPN fertiliser business and a majority
stake in Belgium-based Rosier (notified April 26/deadline June
6)
JUNE 7
— Russian dairy producer OJSC Unimilk Co, which is
controlled by French food group Danone Group, and
French logistics company NDL International, which is controlled
by French transport group Norbert Dentressangle, to
form a logistics joint venture (notified April 29/deadline June
7/simplified)
— Dutch staffing company Randstad to acquire some
of Dutch peer USG People NV’s assets (notified April
29/deadline June 7)
— Private equity firms Lion Capital and Avedon Capital
Partners to acquire joint control of Dutch snack producer AD Van
Geloven Holding (notified April 29/deadline June 7/simplified)
— Finnish paper producer Ahlstrom to merge with
a unit of Swedish company Munksjo, which is partly owned by
private equity fund EQT (notified Oct. 31/deadline extended for
the second time to June 7 from May 16 after Ahlstrom offered
concessions)
JUNE 11
— Qatar Investment Authority and Qatar state-owned hotel
group Kingdom Holding Company to acquire joint control of FRHI
Holdings which owns hotels in Paris and Singapore (notified May
2/deadline June 11/simplified)
— Private equity investor Nordic Capital to buy Unicorn
which owns marine transport services company Unifeeder A/S
(notified May 2/deadline June 11/simplified)
— Private equity firm KKR to acquire indirect
control of French clothing retailer SMCP (notified May
2/deadline June 11/simplified)
— French construction group Vinci to buy
Portuguese airports operator Aeroportos de Portugal (ANA)
(notified May 2/deadline June 11)
JUNE 14
— Diversified U.S. manufacturer Honeywell International
Inc. to acquire mobile computing device maker Intermec
For $600 million (notified Feb. 15/deadline June 14)
JUNE 17
— U.S. media group Time Warner to acquire sole
control of TV operator Central European Media Enterprises in
which it currently holds a stake (notified May 8/deadline June
17)
— Private equity firm CVC to acquire sole control of German
energy services company ista GmbH (notified May 8/deadline June
17/simplified)
JUNE 18
— U.S. group General Electric Co to buy the aviation
business of Italian plane components maker Avio from private
equity fund Cinven and Italian defence group Finmeccanica
(notified May 13/deadline June 18)
JUNE 19
— U.S. technology services company IBM’s Italian
unit to acquire a new company set up from a business owned by
Unicredit Business Integrated Solutions S.c.p.a, part of Italian
bank UniCredit S.p.A. (notified May 14/deadline June
19)
— German investor Joh A Benckiser (JAB) to buy Dutch coffee
and tea maker D.E. Master Blenders 1753 (notified May
14/deadline June 19/simplified)
JUNE 20
— U.S. carrier Delta Air Lines to buy a 49 percent
stake in British peer Virgin Atlantic (notified May
15/deadline June 20)
— Dell Chief Executive Michael Dell and private equity firm
Silver Lake Partners to buy out personal computer maker Dell Inc
(notified May 15/deadline June 20)
— U.S. communications company Syniverse Technologies
to buy Luxembourg-based communications services
company Mach (notified Nov. 16/deadline extended for the third
time to June 20 from May 30 after Syniverse offered additional
commitments)
SEPT 3
— Greek carrier Aegean Airlines to buy Olympic
Air (notified Feb. 28/deadline extended for the second
time to Sept. 3 from April 23 after the Commission opened an
in-depth investigation)
SEPT 6
— Swedish refiner Nynas to purchase certain assets from
Royal Dutch Shell’s Harburg refinery (notified Feb.
19/deadline extended for the second time to Sept. 6 from Aug. 8)
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.
