EU mergers and takeovers -- (UPDATED FEB 17)
BRUSSELS, Feb 17 (Reuters) - Following are additions and deletions to the list of takeovers, mergers and joint ventures being
reviewed by the European Commission under the EU's merger regulation (*).
The Commission has a month to clear or start a detailed, four-month probe after a deal has been filed, but can extend a first-phase
probe by two weeks if it has identified competition problems and companies are willing to address them.
ADDITIONS
-- Plan by French construction materials company Financiere Lafarge and Greece's Titan Cement Co to buy Egypt's Beni Suef Cement Co (Notified Feb 9)
-- Plan by U.S. drive control systems producer Dura Automotive Systems Inc (Nasdaq:DRRA - news), controlled by Onex Corp (Toronto:OCX.TO - news), to acquire
British car components company Adwest Automotive plc (quote from Yahoo! UK & Ireland: AWST.L) (Notified Feb 11)
DELETIONS
-- Proposal by German media company Bertelsmann AG (quote from Yahoo! UK & Ireland: BTGGga.F) to take over German scientific publisher Springer-Verlag and its
Austrian subsidiary (Cleared Feb 16)
-- Proposed acquisition by Dutch courier firm TNT Post Group NV of Jet Services SA, another provider of express delivery services in France (Cleared Feb 16)
-- Proposed acquisition of Swiss freight company Danzas AG by German post office Deutsche Post (Cleared Feb 17)
ONGOING ONE-MONTH REVIEWS
-- Plans by Westdeutsche Landesbank (WestLB), Carlson Companies Inc and Preussag AG (quote from Yahoo! UK & Ireland: PRSG.F) to have joint control of British
travel group Thomas Cook Group Plc. (Preussag is buying 24.9 percent from WestLB, Thomas Cook's current majority shareholder, and has agreed to increase its stake
to 50.1 percent by September 30) (Notified Feb 5)
-- Proposed acquisition by British Investment company CVC Capital Partners of a stake in the plastics division of Norwegian chemicals and explosives firm Dyno
Industrier ASA (Notified Feb 5)
-- Proposal by German postal operator Deutsche Post to take control of the whole of express transport firm 'trans-o-flex' from holding company Industrial Holding
GmbH (Notified Feb 4)
-- Proposal by Mondi Minorco Paper S.A., controlled by Anglo American Corp of South Africa Ltd , to buy the European corrugated packaging business of Australia's
Amcor Ltd (Notified Feb 2)
-- Plan by German chemical group BASF AG (quote from Yahoo! UK & Ireland: BASF.F) to take a 40 percent stake in Swedish seed company Svaloef Weibull AB
(Notified Feb 2)
-- Proposed Harry Dawn joint venture between Halifax Plc (quote from Yahoo! UK & Ireland: HFX.L) and Cetelem SA , a subsidiary of Paribas , to offer consumer credit
in the United Kingdom (Notified Feb 1)
-- Proposal by Polar Motor Ltd, a joint venture between Ford Motor Co (NYSE:F - news) and Jardine Motors Group Plc , to take control of Dagenham Motors Group
Plc (quote from Yahoo! UK & Ireland: DGM.L), a company that sells and services Ford vehicles in Britain (Notified Jan 28)
-- Proposed takeover of the whole of British brick and tiles maker Ibstock Plc (quote from Yahoo! UK & Ireland: IBST.L) by Irish building materials group CRH Plc .
Austria's Wienerberger Baustoffindustrie AG has agreed to hand in its 29.8-percent in Ibstock (Notified Jan 26)
-- Proposed acquisition by the French post office La Poste of German private courier company Denkhaus AG, which also has a stake in DPD, a European network of
parcel delivery franchises (Notified Jan 25)
-- Plans by CVC Capital Partners to buy a 50-percent stake in Wavin BV of the Netherlands, Europe's largest producer of plastic piping, from Royal/Dutch Shell . The
other 50-percent shareholding belongs to Dutch water company WMO (Notified Jan 25)
-- Proposed acquisition by French mining company Imetal SA of English China Clays Plc (quote from Yahoo! UK & Ireland: ECC.L), a British speciality minerals and
chemicals group (Notified Jan 25)
-- Plans by Banque Nationale de Paris (BNP) and French payments cards issuer Groupe Cofinoga to take joint control of Creation Financial Services Ltd, the in-store
credit card division of British retailer Sears Plc (quote from Yahoo! UK & Ireland: SEAR.L) (Notified Jan 20)
-- Proposal by France's Vivendi to take a 27.7-percent stake in Spain's biggest builder and services provider Fomento de Construcciones y Contratas SA (Notified Jan
20)
-- Proposed merger between Sanofi , controlled by Elf-Aquitaine , and Synthelabo , a subsidiary of L'Oreal (Notified Jan 18 -- deadline Feb 19)
-- Proposed merger between pharmaceutical firms Astra AB of Sweden and Britain's Zeneca Group Plc (quote from Yahoo! UK & Ireland: ZEN.L) (Notified Jan 15 --
extended to March 1)
-- Proposal by the German post office Deutsche Post AG to take a stake in parcel delivery firm Securicor Group Ltd which would give it joint control of the company
with Securicor Plc (quote from Yahoo! UK & Ireland: SCR.L) (Notified Dec 7 -- completed Jan 12)
-- Proposal by French energy group Total SA to acquire Belgium's PetroFina in a share swap (Notified Dec 18 -- refiled Feb 12)
DETAILED REVIEWS
-- Proposal by Dutch flag carrier KLM Royal Dutch Airlines NV to take full control of domestic charter airline Martinair Holland NV by buying the outstanding 50
percent of Martinair shares from Dutch transport group Nedlloyd (Full probe Jan 2)
-- Proposed joint venture between AT&T Corp (NYSE:T - news) and British Telecommunications Plc (quote from Yahoo! UK & Ireland: BT.L) to provide global network
facilities and communication services (Full probe started Dec 4)
-- Proposed merger between Danish meat processing cooperatives Slagteriselskabet Danish Crown AmbA and Vestjyske Slagterier AmbA (Full probe started Nov 6)
(*) Commission has exclusive EU competence in large mergers and acquisitions. It has the power to block, or force changes to, deals which create or strengthen
dominant positions in the EU whether or not the companies involved are European.
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