BRUSSELS, Oct 31 (Reuters) - The following are mergers under review by the European Commission and a brief guide to the EU merger process:
APPROVALS AND WITHDRAWALS
-- British company CRH (LON:CRH) plc CRH.I to acquire XI (RMAT) Holdings GmbH, the German holding company of limestone producer Fels-Werke GmbH which is part of Xella International (approved Oct. 30)
-- Private equity firms Carlyle Group CG.O , CVC CVC.AX and China Investment Corp CIC.UL to acquire joint control of French energy company Engie's ENGIE.PA holding company for oil and gas exploration and production business (approved Oct. 29)
-- German auto components supplier Bosch ROBG.UL and Chinese counterpart Hasco to acquire electric power steering products maker ASCN (approved Oct. 26)
-- German chemicals company Evonik EVKn.DE and Dutch peer DSM DSMN.AS to set up a joint venture (approved Oct. 26)
-- Jacobs Engineering Group (NYSE:JEC) to acquire technical consulting services provider CH2M Hill Companies (approved Oct. 25/simplified)
-- Special purpose vehicle ShaMrock Wind to acquire 60 percent of Irish wind farm operator Evalair, which is jointly owned by Luricawne, Fixarra and Luricawne (approved Oct. 25)
NEW LISTINGS
-- China's COSCO Shipping 601919.SS to acquire Hong Kong's Orient Overseas International Ltd (OOIL) 0316.HK (notified Oct. 27/deadline Dec. 5)
-- French car rental company Europcar EUCAR.PA to acquire Spanish peer Goldcar (notified Oct. 27/deadline Dec. 5)
-- Private equity firms Oaktree Capital Group LLC and Pimco to jointly acquire a portfolio of properties in Poland (notified Oct. 27/deadline Dec. 5/simplified)
-- Austrian energy and petrol station company OMV OMVV.VI to acquire 40 percent of electric car charging company Smatrics which is owned by hydropower company Verbund VERB.VI and Germany's Siemens SIEGn.DE (notified Oct. 26/deadline Dec. 4/simplified)
-- Infrastructure fund DIF and French fund manager Caisse des Depots et Consginations to jointly acquire French broadband network operator ADTIM (notified Oct. 26/deadline Dec. 4/simplified)
-- French oil major Total TOTF.PA to acquire Danish shipping company Maersk's MAERSKb.CO oil and gas business(notified Oct. 25/deadline Dec. 1/simplified)
-- Apollo Capital Management to acquire Dutch toy store chain Intertoys Holdings (notified Oct. 25/deadline Dec. 1/simplified)
-- Dutch pension fund APG and property developer Hines Cherrywood Town Centre Associates LLC to set up a joint venture (notified Oct. 20/deadline Nov. 28/simplified)
-- German car parts maker Continental Automotive CONG.DE and French industrial group Alstom ALSO.PA to jointly acquire a minority stake in driverless car technologies company EasyMile (notified Oct. 20/deadline Nov. 28/simplified)
-- Canadian fund manager CDPQ and U.S. conglomerate GE GE.N casubsidiary GE Capital Aviation Services (GECAS) to set up a global aircraft financing cajoint venture (notified Oct. 20/deadline Nov. 28/simplified)
-- Commodities trader Cargill CARG.UL and UK poultry supplier Faccenda Investments to set up a joint venture (notified Oct. 19/deadline Nov. 27/simplified)
EXTENSIONS AND OTHER CHANGES
-- U.S. specialty material company Celanese CE.N and private equity firm Blackstone (NYSE:BX) BX.N to combine their cellulose acetate tow units under a new joint venture (notified Sept. 9/deadline extended to March 19 from March 5)
FIRST-STAGE REVIEWS BY DEADLINE
NOV 8
-- Private equity-backed Neptune Oil & Gas to acquire majority stake in French utility Engie's ENGIE.PA exploration and production business (notified Oct.2/deadline Nov.8/simplified)
NOV 11
-- Medical device maker Avantor, which is controlled by private equity firm New Mountain Capital, to acquire laboratory equipment distributor VWR VWR.O (notified Oct. 11/deadline Nov. 17/withdrawn Oct. 9/refiled Oct. 11)
NOV 13
-- Luxembourg-based steelmaker ArcelorMittal MT.AS to acquire Italian steel plant (notified Sept. 21/deadline eztended to Nov. 13 from Oct. 26 after ArcelorMittal offered concessions)
NOV 14
-- French insurer Axa AXAF.PA and Dutch property developer Unibail-Rodamco UNBP.AS to jointly acquire a shopping centre in Leipzig, Germany (notified Oct. 6/deadline Nov. 14)
NOV 15
-- France's CNP Assurances, Australian investment bank Macquarie and French insurer Predica, which is a unit of French bank Credit Agricole CAGR.PA , to acquire joint control of French petroleum product storage company Pisto (notified Oct. 9/deadline Nov. 15/simplified)
-- China's Legend Holdings 3396.HK to acquire 90 percent of Banque Internationale a Luxembourg (BIL) from Qatari investment vehicle Precision Capital (notified Oct. 9/deadline Nov. 15/simplified)
Nov 16
-- Public pension fund provider ATP and Canadian teachers' pension fund OTPP to jointly acquire Danish airport operator Copenhagen airports (notified Oct. 10/deadline Nov. 16/simplified)
-- West Midland Holdings Ltd, which is a joint venture between Dutch rail operator Abellio Transport Holding BV, East Japan Railway Co and Mitsui Co 8031.T , to acquire the West Midlands franchise from London & Birmingham Railway Ltd (notified Oct. 10/deadline Nov. 16/simplified)
NOV 20
-- U.S. private equity firm Hellman & Friedman to acquire Danish payments provider Nets NETS.CO (notified Oct. 12/deadline Nov. 20/simplified)
NOV 21
-- Private equity firm Apollo Management APOLO.UL to acquire insurer Aegon Ireland (notified Oct. 13/deadline Nov. 21/simplified)
NOV 22
-- Private equity firms CVC CVC.AX and Blackstone BX.N to jointly acquire online payuments processing provider Paysafe Group PAYS.L (notified Oct. 16/deadline Nov. 22)
-- Techno Polymer Co. Ltd, a unit of Japanese chemicals company JSR Corp 4185.T , and UMG ABS Ltd, which is jointly controlled by Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation MSCHML.UL and Ube Industries Ltd, to merge their resin businesses (notified Oct. 16/deadline Nov. 22/simplified)
NOV 23
-- French insurer Axa AXAF.PA and Dutch insurer NN Group NN.AS to acquire joint control of a newly created Spanish joint venture (notified Oct. 17/deadline Nov. 23/simplified)
NOV 24
-- U.S. private equity firms Madison Dearborn Partners and HPS Investment Partners to jointly acquire private holding company Ardonagh Group, which owns insurance broker Towergate Insurance Ltd, and Nevada Investment Holdings 2 Ltd (notified Oct. 18/deadline Nov. 24/simplified)
NOV 27
-- UK oil company BP BP.L and holding company Bridas Corp to acquire oil refiner Axion Energy Holding (notified Oct. 19/deadline Nov. 27/simplified)
NOV 28
-- Japanese company Mitsui 8031.T and Malaysian conglomerate Sime Darby SIME.KL to set up a joint venture (notified Oct. 20/deadline Nov. 28/simplified)
FEB 26
-- Italian eyewear maker Luxottica LUX.MI and French lens manufacturer Essilor ESSI.PA to merge (notified Aug. 22/deadline extended to Feb. 26 from Feb. 12 after the companies asked for more time)
SUSPENDED
-- German industrial group Bayer BAYGn.DE to acquire U.S. seeds company Monsanto (NYSE:MON) MON.N (notified June 30/deadline suspended on Sept. 21)
-- U.S. smartphone chipmaker Qualcomm QCOM.O to acquire Dutch company NXP Semiconductors NV NXPI.O (notified April 28/deadline suspended from Aug. 17/concessions offered Oct. 5)
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.