Evri has agreed a merger deal with DHL eCommerce, creating a UK delivery giant.

Under the agreement, which is subject to approval by the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority, DHL Group will acquire a significant minority stake in Evri.

The plans will create a combined team of more than 30,000 couriers and van drivers, 12,000 colleagues, with a fleet of 8,000 vehicles to deliver over one billion parcels and one billion letters annually.

The deal comes hot on the heels of rival Yodel’s acquisition by Polish logistics solutions specialist InPost, and “is poised to bring significant benefits to consumers and businesses by offering greater choice and cost competitive solutions”. This includes new international capability and business mail services for Evri.

The two partners said the alliance of their “highly complementary UK businesses” would create a one-stop solution for domestic and international parcel logistics.

Evri’s courier proposition will be enhanced with the addition of DHL eCommerce’s UK van delivery network.

Evri will retain its core branding, while DHL eCommerce in the UK will become ‘Evri Premium – a network of DHL eCommerce’ and be positioned as a dedicated and secure, separate network that will offer fast, time-sensitive deliveries with enhanced shipping security protection for high-value and large items for B2B and B2C parcel services.

The new group will include an expanded international capability for inbound and outbound parcels to complement Evri’s own international network by making use of DHL eCommerce’s specialism in cross-border parcel shipping and an out-of-home network of nearly 150, 000 global access points.

DHL’s UK Mail will be incorporated in the new combined group – propelling Evri into the UK business letter market for the first time and offering a “best-in-class mail service”.

Martijn de Lange, CEO of Evri, said the merger creates a pre-eminent parcel delivery group in the UK.

“Over the last decade Evri has grown ten-fold in size and this transaction will further expand our access into the European and global e-commerce markets. Since Apollo-managed funds came on board as our owners, they have backed our intent to drive forward and grow to become the UK’s premier parcel delivery business.

Pablo Ciano, CEO of DHL eCommerce, commented: “Together, we’ll be able to offer more efficient, far-reaching, and innovative solutions to keep up with the fast-paced e-commerce market. By joining forces in the UK, we’re creating a one-stop shop for all our customers’ parcel needs here and giving them better delivery options from around the world.

Evri will continue to be majority owned by Apollo-managed funds.

The businesses of DHL Express, DHL Supply Chain and DHL Global Forwarding in the UK are unaffected by this transaction and will continue to operate as they do at present.