EU regulators to decide on ADNOC's Covestro deal by May 12

By Foo Yun Chee

BRUSSELS (Reuters) -EU antitrust regulators will decide by May 12 whether to clear Abu Dhabi state oil giant ADNOC's 15.9 billion euro ($17.2 billion) takeover of German chemicals company Covestro, a regulatory filing on the European Commission website showed.

ADNOC struck the deal for its biggest ever acquisition last October as Middle East countries seek to reduce their dependence on oil.

The Commission, which acts as the competition enforcer in the 27-country European Union, can either clear the deal with or without conditions or open a four-month investigation after its preliminary review.

Deals in which non-EU companies acquire EU can be subject to the bloc's Foreign Subsidies Regulation, which allows the watchdog to crack down on unfair foreign state support for companies.

UAE telecoms group e&'s bid for parts of Czech telecoms company PPF last year was cleared only after the former offered concessions.

($1 = 0.9261 euros)

(Reporting by Foo Yun CheeEditing by David Goodman)