EU Mergers and Acquisitions

The following are mergers under review by the European Commission that could be of interest to the global maritime and energy communities.

NEW LISTINGS

-- Austrian company Borealis, Canada's Nova Chemicals and French oil and gas major Total to set up a joint venture (notified Feb. 23/deadline April 4/simplified)

FIRST-STAGE REVIEWS BY DEADLINE

MARCH 16

-- British turnaround specialist Melrose Industries to acquire British engineering company GKN (notified Feb. 9/deadline March 16/simplified)

MARCH 23

-- German steel company ELG Haniel and and Spanish peer Iberinox 88 SA to set up a joint venture (notified Feb. 16/deadline March 23/simplified)

MARCH 27

-- APMH Invest, which is a subsidiary of Danish shipper AP Moeller Maersk, and Mitsui & Co to set up a joint venture Maersk Product Tankers (notified Feb. 20/deadline March 27/simplified)

-- Marubeni Itochu Steel and Sumitomo Corp to acquire joint control of Hiroshima Steel Center Ltd, which is a unit of Marubeni Itochu Steel (notified Feb. 20/deadline March 27/simplified)

JULY 18

-- German industrial gases group Linde to merge with U.S. peer Praxair (notified Jan. 12/ deadline extended to July 18 from July 4)

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. (Reuters)