BRUSSELS, June 2 (Reuters) - The following are mergers under
review by the European Commission and a brief guide to the EU
merger process:
APPROVALS AND WITHDRAWALS:
-- A subsidiary of energy group CEZ <> and Czech
investment advisory firm JTIA acquire joint control of Dutch
company MIBRAG B.V. and its wholly owned German lignite mining
subsidiary Mitteldeutsche Braunkohlengesellschaft mbH, currently
controlled jointly by independent power producer NRG Energy Inc
<NRG.N> and engineering and construction firm URS Corp <URS.N>,
both of the United States (approved June 2)
-- U.S. diversified technology and services provider GE
<GE.N> and United Arab Emirates investment fund Mubadala
Development Co PJSC to acquire joint control of a new Abu
Dhabi-based financial services venture (approved June 2)
NEW LISTINGS:
-- U.S. biomedical and pharmaceutical company Pfizer <PFE.N>
to acquire U.S. pharmaceutical and healthcare company Wyeth
<WYE.N> (notified May 29/deadline July 6)
EXTENSIONS AND OTHER CHANGES:
-- Swedish state-owned electricity and gas company
Vattenfall AB [] to acquire N.V. Nuon Energy, a Dutch
regional authority-owned energy firm (notified April 28/deadline
June 8/extended on June 2/new deadline June 22)
FIRST-STAGE REVIEWS BY DEADLINE:
JUNE 5
-- German solar energy company Q-Cells SE <QCEG.DE>, Dutch
renewable energy company Good Energies Investments BV and
Norwegian solar power group NorSun AS take joint control of
Sunfilm AG, a German maker of solar modules using silicon
technology (notified April 27/deadline June 5/simplified)
JUNE 9
-- German utility company RWE <RWEG.DE> to acquire Dutch
counterpart Essent (notified April 29/deadline June 9)
JUNE 10
-- French state-owned insurance, real estate and capital
investment group Caisse des Depots et Consignations []
(CDC); state-owned weather information provider Meteo France and
U.S. stocks and derivatives market operator NYSE Euronext
<NYX.N><NYX.PA> take joint control of Metnext, which develops
products to help managers anticipate the impact of weather on
businesses (notified April 30/deadline June 10/simplified)
JUNE 11
-- Rail company Voyage France Europe Partenaires, belonging
to French state-owned railway operator SNCF [], and
holding firm Bollore SA <BOLL.PA> acquire joint control of a
French venture to market and operate an Internet access service
on high-speed trains (notified May 4/deadline June
11/simplified)
JUNE 12
-- German transport and freight forwarding company Deutsche
Bahn Mobility Logistics AG, belonging to Deutsche Bahn AG
[], to acquire Polish logistics operations; PCC Rail S.A.,
PCC Rail Rybnik S.A. and Trawipol Sp, all known as PCC Logistics
Poland, belonging to German logistics operator PCC SE <ZM9Eg.F>
(notified May 5/deadline June 12)
-- Danish shipping company Vesterhavet A/S and Danish
freight forwarder DSV A/S <DSV.CO> to acquire joint control of
Danish sea shipping company DFDS A/S <DFDS.CO> (notified Jan.
30/deadline March 6/declared incomplete Feb 20/new deadline May
28/extended on May 26/new deadline June 12)
JUNE 15
-- German electricity supplier RWE Innogy, German
electricity, water and natural gas suppliers RheinEnergie and
Stadtwerke Muenchen, and industrial plants developer MAN
Ferrostaal <MANG.DE> to acquire joint control of Spanish solar
thermal power plant Marquesado Solar (notified May 6/deadline
June 15/simplified)
JUNE 17
-- German carrier Deutsche Lufthansa AG <LHAG.DE> to acquire
counterpart Austrian Airlines <AUAV.VI> (notified May 8/
deadline June 17)
-- Bahamas-based investment company Renova Industries,
belonging to the Russian Renova Group, to acquire Swiss
engineering company Sulzer AG <SUN.S> (notified May 8/deadline
June 17)
JUNE 18
-- French nuclear power company Areva SA <CEPFi.PA> acquires
sole control of nuclear plant safety and engineering firm Areva
NP, formerly controlled jointly by Areva SA and Siemens AG
<SIEGn.DE> (notified May 11/deadline June 18/simplified)
-- U.S. petrochemical company Access Industries and
Jersey-registered ProChemie Holding Ltd to take joint control of
petrochemical group LyondellBasell Industries AF S.C.A.
(notified May 11/deadline June 18/simplified)
-- German metal treatment and lighting reflector company
Almeco GmbH and German roof accessories company Mage Industrie
Holding AG acquire joint control of Tinox, a German maker of
absorber surfaces (notified May 11/deadline June 18/simplified)
JUNE 22
-- Luxembourg private equity company CVC to acquire Belgian
universal postal services operator De Post NV/La Poste SA
(notified May 13/deadline June 22/simplified)
JUNE 26
-- U.S. industrial conglomerate General Electric <GE.N>;
media group News Corp <NWSA.O> and entertainment giant The Walt
Disney Co <DIS.N> take joint control of U.S.-based video website
Hulu LLC, currently controlled jointly by GE and News Corp
(notified May 19/deadline June 26/simplified)
-- Japanese trading company Itochu Corp <8001.T>, Japanese
machinery conglomerate Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd <7011.T>
and Greek renewable energy company Enolia Energy SA acquire
joint control of Greek photovoltaic systems supplier Enolia
Solar Systems SA (notified May 19/deadline June 26/simplified)
JUNE 29
-- UK mobile supplier Carphone Warehouse <CPW.L>, via its
wholly owned UK subsidiary TalkTalk Group, acquires British
Internet access provider Tiscali UK, a subsidiary of Tiscali SpA
<TIS.MI> (notified May 20/deadline June 29)
-- French banking and insurance services provider Credit
Agricole <CAGR.PA> to acquire control over part of French fund
custody and fund administration company CACEIS (notified May
20/deadline June 29/simplified)
-- Luxembourg investment companies BlueBay HYI and BlueBay
MSI, and industrial holding company RHJ International <RHJI.BR>
to acquire control of German metal components company Honsel
(notified May 20/deadline June 29/simplified)
-- Dutch private equity companies NPM Capital and Fortis
Private Equity Holding Nederland BV to acquire Dutch plastic and
rubber components company Helvoet Holding BV (notified May
20/deadline June 29/simplified)
-- Russian petrochemicals firm Sibur to acquire Austrian
Citco Waren-Handelsgesellschaft mbH, Cypriot Citco Holdings Ltd
and Panama's Westin Trading SA, which together form
petrochemicals distributor Citco (notified May 20/deadline June
29/simplified)
JULY 1
-- U.S. firm Safran USA, controlled by French aerospace
company Safran SA <SAF.PA>, to acquire joint control of U.S.
detection products company General Electric Homeland Protection,
currently controlled by U.S. company General Electric <GE.N>
(notified May 26/deadline July 1/simplified)
SECOND-STAGE REVIEWS BY DEADLINE:
JULY 1
-- German airline Lufthansa AG <LHAG.DE> to acquire Belgian
air transport company SN Airholding SA/NV, which controls
Brussels Airlines (notified Nov. 26/deadline Jan. 12/extended on
Jan. 6/new deadline Jan. 26/in-depth probe opened Jan.
27/deadline June 10/15 working days extension/new deadline July
1)
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.
