BRUSSELS, Oct 24 (Reuters) - The following are mergers under review by the European Commission and a brief guide to the EU merger process:
APPROVALS AND WITHDRAWALS
-- German furniture and household goods retailer Steinhoff International SNHG.DE and its peer Grupo Pikolin to jointly acquire Belgian furniture wholesaler Cofel (approved Oct. 21)
-- Private equity firm CVC CVC.UL and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board to jointly acquire U.S. specialty pet retailer Petco Holdings PEHI.UL (approved Oct. 21)
-- Private equity firm Apollo Global Management APO.N to acquire U.S. cloud services provider Rackspace Hosting RAX.N (approved Oct. 21)
NEW LISTINGS
-- Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and real estate developer Hammerson to acquire joint control of UK shopping centre Grand Central, which is now solely owned by Hammerson (notified Oct. 21/deadline Nov. 28/simplified)
EXTENSIONS AND OTHER CHANGES
None
FIRST-STAGE REVIEWS BY DEADLINE
OCT 26
-- U.S. laser tools and systems maker Coherent COHR.O to acquire laser developer and manufacturer Rofin-Sinar Technologies RSTI.O (notified Sept. 7/deadline extended to Oct. 26 from Oct. 12 after the companies offered concessions)
-- Dutch staffing company Randstad RAND.AS to acquire U.S. peer Monster Worldwide MWW.N (notified Sept. 21/deadline Oct. 26)
OCT 28
-- French minerals company Imerys IMTP.PA to acquire alumina producer Alteo ARC and Alufin GmbH Tabularoxid from Alteo Holding SAS (notified Sept. 9/deadline extended to Oct. 28 from Oct. 14 after the companies offered concessions)
-- Chinese state-owned company China National Chemical Corp (ChemChina) CNNCC.UL to acquire Swiss pesticides and seeds group Syngenta SYNN.S (notified Sept. 23/deadline Oct. 28)
OCT 31
-- Dutch paint and coatings maker Akzo Nobel AKZO.AS to acquire Germany chemical company BASF's BASFn.DE industrial coasting business (notified Sept. 26/deadline Oct. 31)
NOV 3
-- Alliance Automotive Group to acquire auto distributor FPS Distributor (notified Sept. 27/deadline Nov. 3)
NOV 4
-- French chemicals company Arkema AKE.PA to acquire sealants and adhesives maker Den Braven (notified Sept. 28/deadline Nov. 4)
NOV 7
-- Private equity firm Axcel IV, Danish pension fund PFA Pension and three other pension funds PKA to jointly acquire Danish ship financing company DSF (notified Sept. 29/deadline Nov. 7/simplified)
-- Air transport services provider HNA Aviation to acquire German aircraft maintenance services provider SR Technics (notified Sept. 29/deadline NOv. 7/simplified)
-- German carmaker Daimler DAIGn.DE to acquire Dutch company Athlon Car Lease International ATHLG.UL (notified Sept. 29/deadline Nov. 7/simplified)
NOV 9
-- German drugmaker Boehringer Ingelheim to acquire French peer Sanofi's SASY.PA animal health business (notified Sept. 19/deadline extended to Nov. 9 from Oct. 24 )
-- German shipping company Hapag-Lloyd HLAG.DE to merge with Kuwait-based United Arab Shipping Co (notified Oct. 3/deadline Nov. 9)
-- U.S. medical devices maker Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) ABT.N to acquire U.S. peer St Jude STJ.N (notified Oct. 3/deadline Nov. 9)
NOV 11
-- Private investment firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice to acquire medical home care equipment maker Drive Devilbiss Healthcare (notified Oct. 5/deadline Nov. 11/simplified)
NOV 14
-- Canada Pension Plan Investment Board to acquire a 39.99 percent stake in Glencore Agriculture Ltd from mining company Glencore GLEN.L (notified Oct. 6/deadline Nov. 14/simplified)
NOV 15
-- French drugmaker Sanofi SASY.PA unit Sanofi Pasteur SA to acquire sole control of some human vaccines and immunoglobulins which it now jointly owns with U.S. drugmaker Merck (NYSE:MRK) & Co MRK.N (notified Oct. 7/deadline Nov. 15/simplified)
-- Buyout firm Carlyle CG.O to acquire a minority stake in German clinic chain Schoen Klinik (notified Oct. 7/deadline Nov. 15)
NOV 16
-- Optima Bidco (Jersey) Ltd, the parent of petrol station operator Euro Garages, to acquire petrol station and convenience store operator EFR Group B.V. (notified Oct. 10/deadline Nov. 16/simplified)
-- French car parts supplier Valeo VLOF.PA to acquire German clutch maker FTE Group (notified Oct. 10/deadline Nov. 16)
NOV 17
-- Platinum Equity Group to acquire power and infrastructure management products provider Emerson Network Power Business (notified Oct. 11/Nov. 17/simplified)
-- Private equity firm Naxicap to acquire German personnel services provider TimePartner (notified Oct. 11/deadline Nov. 17/simplified)
NOV 18
-- Swiss hotel services provider Kuoni GTA KUNN.S to acquire hotel distribution and destination management provider MTS Globe (notified Oct. 12/deadline Nov. 18)
NOV 21
-- German supermarket chain Metro MEOG.DE to acquire French food service delivery company Colruyt France SAS (notified Oct. 13/deadline Nov. 21/simplified)
NOV 22
-- Diamond Offshore Wind Holdings, which is part of Japan's Mitsubishi Corp 8058.T , Eneco Holding NV ENECO.UL unit Eneco Wind Belgium and Elicio subsidiary and Belgian wind farm producer ELNU to jointly acquire wind farm operator Norther NV (notified Oct. 14/deadline Nov. 22/simplified)
-- U.S. oil services company FMC Technologies (NYSE:FTI) FTI.N to merge with French oil services company Technip TECF.PA (notified Oct. 14/deadline Nov. 22)
-- U.S. software company Microsoft MSFT.O to acquire social network LinkedIn (NYSE:LNKD) LNKD.N (notified Oct. 14/deadline Nov. 22)
-- French household equipment maker Groupe SEB SEBF.PA to acquire German peer WMF from private equity firm KKR KKR.N (notified Oct. 14/deadline Nov. 22)
NOV 23
-- French investment firm Ardian to acquire German car parts maker Weber Automotive (notified Oct. 17/deadline Nov. 23/simplified
NOV 25
-- Cinema chain AMC UK, which is a unit of U.S. company AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc AMC.N , which in turn is owned by China's Dalian Wanda Group, to acquire Odeon and UCI Cinemas Holdings Ltd from Terra Firma Investments (notified Oct. 19/deadline Nov. 25/simplified)
FEB 6
-- U.S. chemicals company Dow Chemical (NYSE:DOW) DOW.N to merge with DuPont (NYSE:DD) DD.N (notified June 22/deadline Feb. 6)
FEB 13
-- Deutsche Boerse DB1Gn.DE and the London Stock Exchange LSE.L plan to merge (notified Aug. 24/deadline extended to March 6 from Feb. 13 after the companies asked for more time)
FEB 23
-- German cement producers Heidelbergcement HEIG.DE and Schwenk to jointly acquire Mexican peer Cemex's CMXCPO.MX Croatian unit (notified Sept. 5/deadline extended to Feb. 23 from Oct. 10 after the European Commission opened an in-depth investigation)
SUSPENDED
-- Azerbaijan's state energy company SOCAR to buy stakes in Greek natural gas grid operator DESFA from Greek natural gas utility DEPA (notified Oct. 1/deadline suspended on Jan. 21)
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.