The Office of Fair Trading has cleared Home Delivery Network's acquisition of DHL Express domestic delivery business.

HDN, which has a major operation in Oldham, Lancashire, said the deal would create a group delivering more than 180 million parcels a year.

Potential sales could peak at more than £600m. The price of the purchase however, has not been disclosed.

HDN said there would be job losses among the 4,700 staff employed by DHL Domestic, which has 71 service centres, a headquarters in Heathrow and five hubs in Manchester, Bristol, Leeds, Hatfield and the Midlands.

HDN's clients list includes Argos, Tesco, Sainsbury's and Marks & Spencer, delivering more than 300,000 small items every day.