US delivery company Fed Ex has reached a conditional agreement to acquire Dutch rival TNT Express for £3.2 billion.
The deal is expected to be completed in the first half of this year and is subject to approval from the European Commision.
The deal includes TNT Express’s fleet of 86 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter vans in the UK.
TNT Express also has 330 delivery trucks, 300 new long-haul trailers and 200 new tractor units in the UK which are also included in the Fed Ex deal.
Fed Ex has 5000 staff across the UK and has 62 depots. TNT Express has 250,000 contractors and 50,000 team members worldwide.
In a joint statement, the companies said: “The combined companies will cooperate to avoid any significant redundancies in the global or Dutch work forces.”
Tex Gunning, TNT Express chief executive, said: “This offer comes at a time of important transformations within TNT Express and we were fully geared to executing our stand-alone strategy.
“But while we did not solicit an acquisition, we truly believe that FedEx’s proposal, both from a financial and a nonfinancial view, is good news for all stakeholders.
“Our people and customers can profit from the true global reach and expanded propositions, while with this offer our shareholders can already reap benefits today that otherwise would only have been available in the longer run.”