Binary clusters account for more than 10 % of the cluster population in the Magellanic Clouds .
Statistically fewer than 50 % of the found pairs are expected to be chance superpositions .
We estimated the cluster encounter rate and suggest that tidal capture is an unlikely formation scenario for the formation of binary clusters .
Thus , most true binary clusters can be expected to have formed together .

Here we present a study of three binary cluster candidates which are located in the bar of the LMC .
NGC 1971 & NGC 1972 are situated in the association LH 59 in the eastern part of the bar .
A third star cluster , NGC 1969 , is close enough to this pair that all three objects may constitute a triple system .
We present the first age determination that is based on CMDs for these star clusters .
Our findings suggest that all three clusters are young ( 40-70 Myr ) and may have been formed in the same GMC .
It can not clearly decided whether the clusters are physically interacting or not .

NGC 1894 & SL 341 are located at the south-western rim of the LMC bar .
This pair is studied in detail for the first time : The isopleths of both clusters reveal an elliptical shape .
Whether this might be interpreted as a sign of interaction or is a peculiarity which is shared with a large amount of LMC star clusters which show higher ellipticities than their counterparts in the Milky Way remains unclear .
From our age determination we find that both clusters are coeval with an age of 55 \pm 5 Myr .
This makes a formation from the same GMC a likely scenario .

SL 385 & SL 387 are a close pair in the western part of the LMC bar .
We derived ages of 170 \pm 30 Myr for SL 385 and \geq 250 for SL 387 .
The large age difference makes it unlikely that these two clusters formed in the same GMC .